No Rest for the Weary!

Thursday of last week was a busy one for us. Raymond had therapy in the morning and then soon afterward Daddy got home from work early. I had a doctor's appointment - a long doctor's appointment. Shortly after I got home we had to go to Isabella's preschool open house. Isabella was jumping out of her skin the entire way there! We met her teachers and her other classmates. She is really looking forward to going tomorrow. I can't wait to hear all the stories she has to tell me (and the stories the teachers have to tell me!). I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Raymond is about to crawl any day! He's getting so close and trying so hard. I've been spending a lot of time on the floor with him, encouraging him and demonstrating...along with Isabella. Once he starts crawling - watch out! I'm going to be exhausted! He will be all over this house. Note to self, dig out baby gates. I've also been trying to feed Raymond small amounts by mouth. None of his doctor's are really on top of it and I think he should be at least getting used to having something in his mouth. He'll never learn if we never try. I normally do this with him about twice a week. Sometimes he does really well and other days he takes one small spoonful and chokes. My goal is to get him to eat 5 small spoonfuls without complication. Like I said, some days are good and others aren't. It's not always easy but it is always messy!

You can see how stained his bib is from last time!

Then we have this problem...fingers in the mouth.

This is what he was eating that day.

It has been a very action packed weekend for us! I would have been fine with a sit around do nothing type weekend but no such luck. So let's begin with Friday and the fire in our kitchen. I put a pan of oil on the stove to heat up and went in the living room to help Isabella with something. I was in there with her for only a minute or two and I saw white smoke in the kitchen. I went out and the pan was really smoking. I pulled it off the hot burner and a very small little patch had a flame. All the sudden the entire pan caught on fire. I went into full panic mode as Isabella stood in the doorway to the kitchen saying, "Mommy, I think that pans on fire!" Yes honey. "You should put that out!" Yes honey, thanks for the advice. "It looks like lightning in a pan!" Okay honey, go sit with Raymond. I didn't have anywhere to put the pan other then on the stove. I was afraid to put it in the sink because we have a window right behind and I didn't want the curtain or the screen to catch on fire. I thought about taking it outside but when I picked the pan up the flames got bigger and shot into the air. It didn't burn my arm but it made it extremely hot and I set the pan down or else it would have burnt me. I fumbled under the sink for the fire extinguisher and finally (after what seemed like an eternity) found it. I couldn't remember if it could be used on oil and I pulled the pin out but couldn't get the other piece to pop off. Then I thought to throw salt on it but the cabinet with the salt was on fire. So that idea didn't help. I took a lid out and stuck it on top thinking it would stop but instead the flames came out from under the lid and made it worse. Right about this time Chris got home and grabbed the fire extinguisher. When he sprayed the pan, instead of making the fire go out it splattered it all over the place. It did however make the flames go down enough that he could take it out back and throw it on the concrete patio. By this time, I grabbed both kids and the dog and took them outside and was on the phone with 911. A police officer got to our house in record time and helped Chris put out the fire. Two minutes later there were four firetrucks in front of out house. Poor Sadie was having a heart attach watching all these strange men run in and out of or house. Smoke was pouring out of all the windows. It actually looked like our entire house was on fire. The fireman quickly put fans all throughout the house to remove the smoke. By this time, Isabella was telling ALL our neighbors that our "poor microwave melted". Luckily the fire was quickly contained and our whole house didn't burn down! One of the volunteer fire fighter's told me that Chris must have been standing too close to the pan when he tried to use the fire extinguisher since it spattered and didn't go out. They also told me that kitty litter will put out almost any fire. Good to know! So we are going to keep a small plastic container of it under our sink from now on. Everything in our kitchen was such a mess. Things either had a layer of soot, fire extinguisher powder or both. I had to wash everything and we threw a lot away. Hopefully I will hear from the insurance adjuster tomorrow. Every time we go into the kitchen we find something else that was damaged. I sure hope they don't give us a hard time! This is a picture of part of the microwave and you can see a small portion of the burnt cabinet on the side.

Saturday started off a normal day. Then in the evening I had to take Raymond to the emergency room. He was sitting in his exersaucer had started to shake uncontrollably. Chris and I were fairly certain he was having a series of seizures. At the hospital they took blood, and x-ray and CAT scan. The CAT scan was not clear because Raymond was moving around too much to get a clear picture. He was strapped down but was still able to move his head just enough to interfere. The ER doctor said he couldn't find any signs of what caused it but felt Raymond should have an MRI at the children's hospital and told me to have our pediatrician arrange. Then we were sent on our way. I took Raymond to see Dr. Haggerty today and she was not pleased that they didn't keep him overnight for monitoring. She said she has no doubt he had a series of seizures and she wants us to take Raymond to see the Neurologist at St. Christopher's. So I called to make that appointment when we got home but the office was already closed. Raymond really hasn't been himself so hopefully they can get him in soon. In the meantime, if it happens again, we are to take him straight to Philadelphia to be admitted.

For the past few days Isabella has wanted to watch Three Bears and a New Baby. Her Grandma and Grandpa bought it for her when I was pregnant with Raymond. She said she wants Raymond to watch it to be prepared for the baby. She's so silly! The funny thing is, there is a segment in the movie where they visit a family expecting a baby. Their third baby actually. I never noticed it before now but the sister has Down Syndrome. Isn't that something? I never noticed while we were anticipating Raymond. I just remembered the cute girl with glasses. I find it very ironic. By now I think I have the movie memorized. At least when Isabella's at preschool I'll get a break from it!

The fantastic big sister!!!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Erica