4th of July

First of all...on a happy note...I'd like to wish Erica Laskey a happy 1st bday. She turned 1 on the 4th. I'd also like to wish Eleanor Gausman a happy 1st bday today. My friends are such wonderful people and they have even more amazing kiddos. I am lucky to share in the experiences of the first year of the lives of our children with these lovely women and I wish their babies the best start to their 2nd year!

Now on to our hellish 4th of July. We headed up to my parents lake house in Michigan ready for a relaxing holiday. What we didn't know is we were in for an interesting one...to say the least. Tyler had been fighting a cold for a few days, and I thought we were on the better side of it. Not so much! On the morning of the 4th Ty woke up with a fever. We hadn't come prepared so we had to hurry to buy some Tylenol from the local grocery store. He seemed to make a small recovery for an hour or so...then it suddenly went down-hill. He became lethargic, unresponsive and he was burning up. Obviously concerned...we ran out (yet again) for a thermometer and he registered a temperature of about 104-105. It was time for a run to the emergency room. We spent the rest of the day and evening in Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac, MI (the same tiny hospital that took care of my Dad when he had his heart attack). Ty had a severe ear infection in both ears and a really high fever so we were forced to wait it out in the emergency room until his fever broke and the antibiotics kicked in. Needless to say...I was a wreck...especially when he was lethargic, unresponsive and glassy-eyed. However...after some tylenol, motrin and some ampicillin he was much better come the next day and he's recovering nicely.

What we didn't know was there was another crisis going on back at the lake house. My brother's girlfriend has a dog, Siri, and the two dogs don't really get along. We're not really sure why. We keep them apart normally...just to avoid conflict. While we were at the hospital my brother and mom decided to try to get them to get along. It was going fine for a while and suddenly the fight broke out (we think it might have been the fireworks...my dog is very jumpy during fireworks and often cowers in the bathroom). My brother tried to break it up and grabbed Cincy to protect her from Siri but Cincy was freaked out and bit my brother (which she had never done before to anyone) really giving him some pretty major wounds on his hand. Unfortunately, my brother didn't break up the dog fight before Cincy had some battle wounds of her own. They ended up taking her to an emergency vet to get shaved, get some staples put in and get some pain meds and antibiotics. So when I returned from the hospital with one baby...my parents had to tell me that my other "baby" was on the way to the emergency vet in Indiana (an hour away). By the time both "babies" were home and asleep it was well after 2am and we saw no fireworks, had no cocktails and celebrated with no sparklers. To be honest...my brother should have headed to the emergency room himself, but he's trying to tough out his wounds even still. Luckily the weekend got progressively better and we're all recovering nicely. It will always be a 4th we will remember...and hopefully laugh at later! Here are a few pictures of the happy times of the rest of the weekend...

Tyler with his new toy from Auntie Pam...his very own duffel bag! He loved walking around carrying it!Since the lake was pretty chilly and Ty had ear infections...we decided to put some warm water in a baby pool and let him hang out with us by the lake. He spent hours in there and loved it!

A night cruise with the family around the lake on the 5th...after the craziness wound down

Flashback: Tyler last 4th of July (9 days old!)