I Knew A Guy In High School That Did Flip Throw Ins

But this never happened.

Better Late Than Never

Thomas finally got to open his birthday presents. He loved all of them. We are so fortunate to have such great friends and family. Thanks to everyone!

Happy Birthday, Coley!!!

My little sister turns the big 3-0 today. Yea adulthood!

Not 100% There Yet

Well, Tom is still not out of the woods yet. He has had a horrible cough the last few days that has just not gotten much better. So, today I took him to see his doctor. She checked everything out (ear, chest, mouth, throat) and it was all good. No bronchitis, no croup, no strep. She thinks he has a sinus infection and we are back on Amoxicillan. The poor little guy is just having a rough time of it. That cough sounds so bad too. I really hope the medicine knocks it out of him.

I am now, officially, sick of putting bad news up on here. So, lets end with a quick, but entertaining video I took of Tom the other night. He has developed a very close connection with any and all stuffed bears. This little routine happens a lot in our house. If Tom starts crying, we send in "Bear". Also, feel free to make fun of my overly enthusiastic "dad" voice. I cringe when I hear myself:

One More Part of the Story

I left this portion out of the first post (I think I wanted to block it from my memory). So, after we got discharged from the hospital, we headed straight to Walgreens to get Tom's medicine. While we were there, we decided to get a Humidifier for his room. The doctor recommended one since he seems to always have a runny nose and is a mouth breather. Anyway, we buy the Humidifier and some Vick's Vapor Mist to put in it to help him breathe. We also got some Walgreen's Benadryl. After 20 minutes at the drug store, we had everything we needed, so we head home.

Emily went in to the kitchen give Tom his medicine as I was getting all of our stuff out of the car and in to the house. I walked into the kitchen just as she was giving Tom his medicine. It was 1/2 Teaspoon of Benadryl. As soon as she put the dispenser in his mouth, he started spitting and crying. He did really well with the medicine at the hospital, so we were kind of shocked that he would refuse it so vehemently. Well, it didn't smell like medicine to me so Emily turned to look at the Benadryl Bottle and that is when we realized we were trying to give him Vick's Vapor Mist!!! Well we freaked out. We tried to make him throw up, we flushed his mouth with water and then we ran to the car and drove straight back to Children's Hospital, this time to see if we had poisoned our little boy. Well, long story short, he was totally fine, the doctors called poison control who said they would have advised us to stay home and wait for an hour to see what happens.

I guess the reason I am posting this part of the evening is just a warning to pay attention. We were so tired and out of it, we just saw two boxes from Walgreens and didn't really bother to read which one we were giving to him. It was just the perfect ending to a really long weekend. We have since put a HUGE "X" on that bottle so we never make that mistake again. I think Tom has had just about enough of us.

I Guess We Will Always Remember His 1st Birthday

Well, Tom's first birthday did not go exactly as planned, but we will always remember it. The day started off normal. Lots of running around and getting things ready for his party. Even the first hour of the party was great. All the kids were having fun, the parents were enjoying some food and adult beverages. Then we got to dinner time.

Just as we were pulling the lasagna out of the oven, I noticed Tom's lips looked weird. Within 2 minutes of that observation, his face had swelled up to twice it's regular size and he had hives all around his eyes. Let the freaking out begin! He blew up so fast, we didn't have time to do anything. We called 911, the ambulance came and took me and Tom to Children's Hospital. He was given an Epi, Steroids, and Benadryl. Tom was a champ through this whole thing. He cried a little bit, but for the most part he was just hanging on to my shoulders and trying to itch his face. The swelling was so bad, by the time we got to the hospital, I didn't even recognize my own son. It was very upsetting. After a few nervous hours in the admitting room the swelling went down on his face, but not his lips. So, we spent the night at the hospital. It was a loooong night. Emily and I really couldn't sleep, even though Tom was out. Any parent who has been through anything like this knows the feeling. Helpless, scared, nervous, sick to your stomach.

Well the next morning he was pretty much back to normal, other than the rash all over his body. The doctors said they needed to observe him for a full 24 hours, since it was a severe allergic reaction. That meant we were going to be in the hospital until 6 that evening. I don't think anyone was happy about that. A whole day in that room was brutal. On the upside, Tom really did a 180 and was looking and feeling great. He ate 3 whole pancakes for breakfast, and entire chicken breast and plate of veggies for lunch and 2 chicken strips and half a baked potato for dinner. He was pretty much back to his old self by the time we left.

So he is home now and doing well. We have a follow up doctors appointment today at 10. Then we have to take him to an Allergist at some point soon so they can find out exactly what he is allergic to so we can avoid this in the future. Just for the record, the hospital thinks it was Sesame Oil. Tom tried two new things at his birthday party, Pumpkin Seeds and Humus. The Humus has the Sesame Oil in it. Also, for the record, the staff at Children's was amazing. They were all extremely nice and very attentive. We were very happy with the way they took care of us..

That was Tom's first birthday, exciting, scary, and memorable. Here are a few pictures of our tough little guy:

The BIG day is here! Happy (1st) Birthday Thomas!

We now have an official 1 year old in the house. Tom couldn't wait to start his big day, so he was up and ready to go at 5 this morning. Emily and I thought it appropriate, since last year we were checking in to the hospital around 5 am.

We don't have anything major planned for his birthday. Just a party later this afternoon with some friends and family. Hopefully Tom gets some good naps in today so he is ready to be the center of attention tonight. I will have some more pictures from the party and a video of the World's longest birthday song to keep everyone entertained.

Last night, Tom was ready for some Trick or Treater's

This morning he got his first birthday present from Dad. At first he wasn't quite sure what this toy was. A few minutes later, he was dunking the ball. Could Tom be the next Keith Gregor? (UC fans will get that joke)