Our First ER Trip

My boys are all boy and rough housing is very natural for them. With my two boys I have had no doubt that a few emergency room trips would take place at some point in the future. I had no idea that our first one would happen this soon.

Last night I am trying to put both my boys to bed. Neither of them are cooperative because we were babysitting my nieces and nephew. So I have the boys in their room, Thomas in his bed and Luke not in his. They both want a drink so I head downstairs to get a drink for them. I then hear Thomas crying really hard and as I enter the room Luke is hiding under his blanket.

Instantly my reaction is WHAT DID YOU DO? First response from Luke was nothing. As Thomas cries I ask again, what did you do? Then I get the response "I pulled his arm through the bed rails." Thomas will not stop crying and you can not move his arm with out major screams. We go sit on the bed and I try to calm him and figure out if he is going to be OK. Thomas calms down but only if you would hold very still. The moment we moved his arm he would begin to cry again. At this point we new it was time to take a trip to the emergency room. Before we could go we had to wait 15 minutes for my in-laws to show up to get the kids. My mother-in-law stayed at our house so that Luke could stay home and go to bed.

Off we went to the ER of the Children's Hospital. Of course at 9:30 at night it is crazy busy and lots of sick coughing children. Not really where I want to be but we had no choice.

The hospital was great and moved us almost instantly into a room. I was so thankful to be out of the waiting area where I felt like germs were just everywhere begging to make us all sick.

Finally around midnight when the doctor came to see us he said it was probably Nurse Maid elbow, basically Thomas elbow was pulled out of socket. He twisted his are from side to side for about a minute popping it back into place. He left and came back with a Popsicle for Thomas and instantly Thomas held his hurt arm up read to take the popsicle. We were as good as new.

I was so thankful to see it all went OK. Having two boys, I have no doubt this will be my last trip either.

Leftover Food

Aloha!
So it is Friday and I am exhausted from this week. Lets take it easy today and keep it simple, shall we.

Question: Do you use up or throw away majority of your leftovers? If you are successful at using your leftovers, how do you do it?

I feel like we waist so much food. We always have extra food left over after a meal. It will go in a pretty plastic container and then into the fridge, never to be seen again. OK it is seen again just sometimes it is unrecognizable (did I just admit that), but never found until I am cleaning out the fridge a couple weeks later. At that point everything ends up in the trash.

I always forget that we have stuff that needs to be used up. Then when I do think about it I find that it is no longer any good.

Play along at An Island Life for Aloha Friday. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life.

Resting His Head

What happens when your little one
refuses to take a nap all day long?

He ends up falling asleep here.

Visit Angie at 7 Clown Circus for more great Wordful Wednesday post.

Where do I go from here?

When Luke was little he was watched by a stay at home mom who babysat other kids. She had to stop watching Luke when he turned two. At that point I enrolled him into a local preschool/daycare. It was a fantastic program and it did wonders for him at that age and all the way up until he started school.

Thomas will be turning two in October and I have really been trying to decide what would be best for him after he turns two. He is currently with a stay at home mom who babysits. Do I make the leap and enroll him into the same preschool and give him all the same opportunities Luke has had or do I wait.

So I decided step one should be get pricing and details from the preschool. This is where my choice gets hard because it is so expensive. Currently I pay $100 a week for Thomas to go to his sitter 4 days a week but I do have the option for the 5th day at the same price. The preschool would cost me $152 for 3 days a week. This is hard to stomach when you are use to paying less than this. If I go with the 3 days a week (this is what Luke did) than both grandma's will have to go back to watching Thomas one day a week every week. Something I am not sure I want nor do I think either of them can do anymore.

My second option would be to pay for the 3 days at the preschool and retain current sitter for 1 day a week for an additional $25 but that is now $75 more a week. Not exactly something I thrilled about.

I have tried to way out the pros and cons of each.

• Preschool -very proactive at age 2 with potty training
• Sitter- not very helpful with potty training.
• Preschool -always open except holidays.
• Sitter- takes time off leaving me without child care
• Preschool -charges even if child doesn't attend & no price change for closed holidays.
• Sitter -only charges when child is their.
• Preschool -learning environment
• Sitter-playing environment
• Preschool -very expensive
• Sitter -much more budget friendly
• Preschool -sick more often (at least this was the case with Luke)
  
• Sitter -healthier environment
  

When I look down this list I see money as a major factor and I am not looking at what is best for Thomas. My car has been paid off so it isn't like I couldn't apply that money here but this is not how I wanted to spend that extra money.

I guess I am just very torn and cant decide if I just shouldn't wait one more year. Currently Thomas has some very bad habits from the sitters due to very aggressive kids but I can't be certain that won't be an issue with the daycare also.

I also really want that learning environment and my sitter does not spend time with them teaching them things. She said that from day one that is just not what she does. When he was a baby I was fine with that because at that stage the nurturing seemed more important to me.

I just don't know what to do? I can't seem to come to a decision that makes me happy.