SKUNKED!

It's a good thing that Sophie is cute and that we love her VERY VERY much, because she truly tested our patience last night. We were having a nice evening with our friends Justin and Destiny, playing cards and drinking wine, as we do when Nolan goes down to bed. Sophie had been outside for a little while and barked to get in. Chris let her in and she went over to the carpet in the living room. The stench was overwhelming...made you want to gag, throw up, gag again, throw up...We threw her outside again. Anyone who knows Sophie, knows she's a vermit chaser and herder. Well, here's one vermit she's never seen before. She chases but never catches and if she gets her prey cornered she stops and looks at them blankly as if to say, 'why did you stop running?' which is what we can only assumed happened with the skunk before it turned around and sprayed her point blank into the face. It's midnight mind you and I have a couple of glasses of wine in me, so we jump on the internet and find the magic solution:
1. for the dog= 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, 2 tbsp dawn, 1/2c baking soda
2. for carpet= 1 quart white vinegar, 2 tbsp dawn, 1/2c baking soda
Off we run to the grocery store (with my sober friend driving) to get the necessary supplies. While at the grocery store we realized that it's in our CLOTHES. None of us touched Sophie or got within 15 feet of her and we REAK....to the point of gagging reak!! Thank GOD for Justin and Destiny. Chris washed the dog, Justin moved heavy stuff, Destiny and I concocted the magic potion. After about 2 hours of mayhem and burning throats we feel like it's as much as we can do. Our noses burned throughout the night and still do to a certain extent. We had to leave all the windows open last night, but unfortunately she got sprayed right in the middle of the backyard so eventually we were pulling the smell back into the house. It rained last night and I think that will be our saving grace, hopefully it will push it into the ground. I have to get the carpet and upholstery cleaned next week and I think we will all be sorted. Sophie smells like a clean(ish) dog, now except for her cute little nose, which is where I think she took the brunt of the spray and we CANNOT get the smell out of her nose. Poor girl.

The on-going battle over dog food.

My clever little man has figured out that if he RUNS towards the dining room (where the dog's food and water are currently held) he gets a reaction out of Sophie. Primarily, chasing and grrrrring. I say 'grrrrring' because if you know Sophie, it's not really a growl, but a small friendly warning.
Poor girl, she has been SOOOooooo patient when it comes to her food and water, but recently I guess she has hit her limit. It's a daily battle to keep Nolan from putting his fingers in the water and then in his mouth. 'Mmmm...wa'er.' I can't count how many times I have stopped him just short of eating her food. The real fun for him I think is tormenting the dog and being chased. Chris and I bought a stand alone dog gate to seperate the formal living room and the dining room because the space is too wide for a standard tension gate. Nolan can now get passed this as well, it's not very heavy and he just drags it enough that he and Sophie creep through...together no less. I have been on a mission yesterday and today to find something that I can attach to the bottom of this gate to make it more difficult to move. Currently there is a chair and a half sitting in front of the very expensive and now obsolete gate. Home Depot was useless. He said...'just put something heavy in front of it.'
No....really?!?! Geez I hadn't thought of that. I'm just a useless stay at home mom with no problem solving skills. If that were a permanent solution then I wouldn't be here now would I? I finally ended up at Wal-Mart, good 'ol Wal-Mart, they have things to fix jaloppy problems like mine. I have some super-sticky rug tape and I REALLY hope it works!

The Secret Language of Nolan Rhodes

Toddlers learning the English Language is beginning to fascinate me. So I thought I'd give you small a tutorial in Baby Talk. Here are some of Nolan's favorite words and substutions thereof:

She = Fish

Ball = Ball

Obie = Sophie

Goo Gah = Good Girl

Nar or Namar = Yogurt (I seriously don't get this substitution)

Moe or Moi = Milk

More = More

Abah = Airplane

Car = Car

Wa'er = Water

Choos = Shoes

Burr = Bird

AAAAAHHHHH! = PAY ATTENTION TO ME OR I WANT THAT NOW!!!!

We are working on this last one. According to many books on the subject, you should ignore them. Uhuh...try doing that all day without pulling out your hair.  Our favorite is to scream while in the high chair and throwing food EVERYWHERE! This age is so much fun. We can communicate now and I don't have to get off the couch to retrieve the remote control! How great is that?!?!

Hospital Survey

Stamford Hospital had the nerve to send me a survey about our Immediate Care Experience. Let's tick things off...shall we?
1. They couldn't find Nolan on our insurance even though his name is printed on the card.
2. The only thermometer the nurse had was an ear thermometer, which Nolan HATES. He preceded to rip his wound open more struggling against the nurse who was trying take his temp. Forehead thermometers are an AMAZING breakthrough!! Buy one.
3. We waited over an hour from the time we saw a nurse to the time we saw a doctor.
4. She wasn't even a doctor, but a doctor's assistant and the only person 'available'.
5. She used regular sutures instead of dissolving stitches on an 17 month old toddler. HELLO!
6. We arrived before 3pm and didn't leave until 6pm and there were only 3 patients ahead of us. Is there no priority for a bleeding baby?
So needless to say, I ripped them a new one on their so called 'SURVEY'. What's sad is I doubt it will do any good.

Nolan and his scar the day stitches were removed.

Nolan got his stitches out.

So, it's been a while since I posted anything. I'm still getting used to this whole blog scene. 

Last week Nolan got his stitches out. Chris was so concerned about the scar and whether they had done an adequate job at the hospital. (He's a little paranoid due to a traumatic experience as a child.) We went to the pediatrician's office, so we wouldn't have to wait 3 hours just to get stitches out. I took a blanket, knowing they probably wouldn't have anything to hold Nolan's arms down. It was fortunate that I did, because they were ill prepared for a fighter such as my boy. I swaddled Nolan and he put up his argument, but the stitches were out before I could blink. The doctor did such an amazing job! She had them out in probably less than a minute. His scar looks tight and really good:) I'm pleased with the job done at the hospital. The scar goes right through his eyebrow and I'm a little worried his hair won't grow in there, but it makes him look tough. My rough and tumble little boy! 

Nolan goes to the Hospital

My friend Carrie blogs about her adventures in Germany and had mentioned she wished everyone else would blog too. But what do I have to blog about? I am a stay at home mom who is currently sitting at her kitchen table watching her son drive a truck across a window sill. That's exciting stuff.
Yesterday was a very exciting day in our household and because we don't have any immediate family nearby I thought starting a small blog about Nolan and our misadventures would make some Grandmas very happy. (some aunts and uncles too!)
We went to a friends first birthday party yesterday and Nolan was having SOOOO much fun! He is suddenly quite the extrovert and does well in room full of cute little girls! I was sitting on the next to a coffee table that was pushed up against the wall. I was a little worried about the large amount of kids in a small space, so I was trying to prevent any mishaps with the coffee table. I was feeding Nolan cantelope and any of you that know my son, know he is OBSESSED with melon. So, I guess,  I wasn't getting the cantelope to his mouth quite fast enough and he bolted for the coffee table were the plate of melon was sitting. He tripped over my legs and smacked his cute little forehead on the edge. It made the most awful noise. Now we have hit our head numerous upon numerous times, we are a toddler for crying out loud. So I start doing the mommy automatic...'Honey, it's going to be fine. It's just a little bump. No big deal.' Until he looks up at me with blood pouring into his eye! (head and face wounds produce SO much blood) 

The one great thing I have to say about this is I have met some amazing women at the JCC this past year and they sprang into action. We quickly realize this is a trip to the hospital, so Stacey calls Chris, Zoe calls the pediatrician, Jamye gets ice. I'm in a bit of shock...seeing your son bleeding massively for the first time is a hard image to process. The pediatrician's office recommends the hospital as well and off we go. Zoe's sister in law, Sara, was in town and she watched Zoe's son Rafi, while Zoe made the 3 hour trip with us to the Immediate Care Clinic. (I say three hour but that is the time in to time out)
Once we were there, Nolan was in good spirits. Toddlers are such amazing little creatures. He was so upset at first and who wouldn't be? He had a half inch gash over his right eye and it was only getting wider and wider. But once we got to the waiting room he was running around charming the pants off of anyone in there. Amazing. Finally we got to the back, saw three nurses before we were put in the suture room. Now I am a sissy when it comes to needles, to this day I don't know how I got an epidural, but it happened. So I knew that watching him get stitches was going to be hard. I already got overwhelmed at the party and had to sit down for a second. Not because of blood, but because it was specifically my son's blood and I was FREAKED OUT!! (and trying my damndest not to show it.) So when it came time to actually suture the wound, I knew it was going to be difficult for me and probably worse for me than for him. They had to contain him first. First, I have to say that my son is a fighter. He gets this from his father, who would argue with God if he welcomed him into heaven. He can find a counter argument in anything. So the time came, when they had to restrain Nolan and he put up quite a fight for a 25 lb person. This was more difficult than the actual stitches...it 2 nurses and me to hold him down and they strapped him to the gurney. Then all I could do was sit there and sing to him. It was over very quickly, thank God. But there they were...5 stitches. 

You would think they would have been smart enough to use dissolvable stitches with a toddler so we wouldn't have to subject him to this again...BUT NO! So we will be going into the get them removed soon at the pediatrician's. He doesn't even realize they are there at this point which is so reassuring.

This was a long post and for that I apologize. It is cathartic though, this blogging. I know it doesn't seem like it would be such a traumatic experience, 'So what?' some of you may say...'Your kid got a few stitches!' And I hear you, I really do, but when it is your child and you see blood pouring over their face, it's an image you'll never truly erase. I am thankful our first trip to the hospital is done and over with. I will be much better equipped to handle small emergencies such as these in the future and let's hope those are few and far between!