ummm....duh!

A while back we decided that we were going to take Ellie's car seat in to see if it was properly installed. Justin had heard of an organization that does this throughout the state and so we found their website and located a time/place to get this done. We drove up to the Albertson's parking lot and it was packed out with people getting their car seats checked. Grant it most of them were doing this BEFORE their kids were born, but hey we plead ignorance! Finally we get through to the check in desk and are directed to an "bay" where two ladies are waiting to help us. We, of course, had Ellie with us and so they were able to see what a horrible job we had done installing this thing AND that we dared to have put our child in it!

They inspected the situation thoroughly before having us take Ellie out of the seat and then began "educating" us. We were there for a while....

Our handy technicians were super nice and one was a local pediatrician (Sexy Lexi - as I dubbed her) and her "sidekick" (I say this because Sexy Lexi pretty much just bossed her around, had her fetch various items she needed and treated her like her personal assistant although I'm sure in this setting they were equally qualified). Sexy Lexi proceeded to tell us, "You know how when you drove up your baby's neck was flopping forward....(me: "Yeah")....well we don't want that....that's bad." I knew this. I did. Hence why we brought the car seat in, waited in line, and so forth. She is ALL up on the car seat and telling Justin that THIS is how you have to do it to get the car seat in securely enough. She then instructs us that the car seat should be in the middle (which we already knew however it doesn't fit in the middle because the car seat is too big) and proceeds to take it out completely and attempt to put it in the middle. After much effort she proclaims, "It doesn't fit!"

Back out this car seat goes...back to where we had it. She once again is doing everything short of sitting in the car seat to get it secured. She sent her "sidekick" for a Noodle (one of those ones kids bang each other over the head with in the swimming pool) to properly tilt the car seat. She then has Justin demonstrate that he understands how to put in a car seat correctly. As they are doing this she notices a rather cute puppy mirror (plastic mirror) that is strategically placed so that I can see Ellie while I drive. She stops short in her tracks and says to Justin, "This is a hazard," and she surveys more, "I know it says crash tested, but has it been crash tested with this vehicle and this car seat?" Ummm....no...the puppy mirror has not been CRASH tested with this car and this car seat?!?! She urges us to take it off lest it fly off during an accident and hurt Ellie. I look in the back of the Explorer and see a million and one things WAAAY more dangerous that could hurt Ellie if it flew during the course of an accident. It made me think but NOT about the puppy mirror.

Finally, after a good hour, we are safe and approved to drive!

This service is awesome and it really showed us that we needed guidance in installing the car seat. Did you know that an estimated 3 out of 4 car seats are installed incorrectly?

To find a station next to you go to: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/Index.cfm

Thanks to Sexy Lexi, her side kick and the Safer New Mexico (http://www.safernm.org) staff for this great service! Thanks to them Ellie's future siblings won't have to ride with flopping necks!! (Sorry Ellie)

Survival

I can't even really tell you what date it was any more and I cannot even remember if it was a Monday or Thursday. I have intentionally placed some distance from the incident and writing about it because I still get a little emotional about it and admittedly a few tears still show up in my big brown eyes.

One evening a few weeks ago Justin and I were sitting in the living room and working on homework stuff while Ellie played on the floor. She had been wandering up to the coffee table to grab a few sweet potatoe puffs and then she'd crawl off to her perch on the floor. She was literally a foot away from me. A few moments into this routine she grew rather quiet and then we heard a sound - the sound of choking. She was grasping for air and Justin ran over to her first and scooped her up and starting surveying the situation. She was indeed choking on what we presumed to be one of those darned puffs. He looked in her mouth and saw nothing, and quickly began back blows however shortly into the process  (and after moments of Ellie not responding to the back blows) he realized "what" was happening and to "who" it was happening to and just began crying. It was simply one of those moments when fear took over, and seeing a helpless baby gasping for breathing is one of those moments my friend.

I took her from him and  looked down and her lips and mouth were a purple/blue tinge and I just thought to myself - "don't look - just do." I began back blows and after a while she let out a loud cough and then even louder cries. I turned her over to look in her mouth but there was nothing in her mouth and nothing came out. When she breathed in and out it still sounded raspy in her throat and we knew that whatever it was was still lodged. She was still struggling for air but was able to get breath and she was in major distress. We packed up in the car quickly (me without shoes - which Justin tells me goes down in the books as the most ghetto move of all times - in restrospect, of course) and headed to the ER which is only blocks from our house. By the time we arrived she seemed to have caught her breath more consistently and was calming down, and so we sat in the parking lot just to make sure things were copasetic. She then started again not being able to catch her breath and the raspy sound returned, and this time she began vomiting. We were hopeful this would help her rid herself of whatever was blocking her throat, but after several episodes the vomit had blood in it and still no choking item.

We took her inside and we were seen rather quickly and while the doctor was examining her she began throwing up again and this time I spotted something in her mouth. I took a look inside and found the culprit. It was one of those stickers that come on a laptop - the ones that say "Windows 7" or "Intel". Those stickers, in case you never inspected one, are a thick (almost plastic) material and are VERY sticky. Even after all the hoopla this sticker was still incredibly sticky. The doctor said he was concerned about an infection which could cause her throat to swell, given the bloody vomit and that this item likely scratched up her throat pretty well, and so he wanted to admit her downtown (this ER does not have inpatient capacity). We felt confident that we could watch her through the night, both being RN's and given that the ER is so close by, and he agreed and we brought her home after a 3 hours period of observation.

When we got home the poor little ladybug was exhausted but also had a ton of gas from all the air she swallowed coughing/crying/and trying to swallow that stupid sticker. So it was a VERY rough night while then, of course, spilled over in to days. For us nothing could compare to the guilt we felt that we somehow weren't watching her closely enough or that we could have done something differently. So now we are extra paranoid....hopefully we won't ruin her for life!! She is back to her old self....crawling around....getting into everything....climbing on everything...putting everything in her mouth....and Justin's even let her start eating puffs again. I think we will be alright - another parental crisis survived.

sing song...

You Are My Sunshine

My only sunshine.

You make me happy

When skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear,

How much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away

Phoenix Fun...

We headed out to Phoenix for several days over the Labor Day holiday....We visited the outlet malls (of course), the aquarium, a few interesting eateries (with the assistance from new friend - the iPhone app of Yelp)....Ellie had a blast as did we....

Easy Peasy....SUPER cheesy

Here is a recipe for the easiest meal you'd ever hope to make....and quite tasty I might add :)

Ingredients:

2 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cheese Soup

1 (8 ounce) package shredded two-cheese blend (your choice)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups (uncooked) fusilli pasta

Directions:1) Cook pasta as directed on package
2) Mix soup, cheeses, milk and black pepper in a bowl
3) Place past in a 1 1/2 quart casserole pan
4) Add soup/cheese/milk mixture
5) Mix all together until wet mixture covers the pasta completely
6) Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15-20 min. or until hot.

NOTE: If you desire you can also add other items that you'd like such as chicken, tuna, or veggies.

Yummy goodness my friends.