A Very Brief Update

Look at how big he's getting!

This was the day of the rainbow...it rained A LOT for several days.

Just being cute and playing with his stuffed animals.

The most valued toy of all - a small saucepan.

Dustin is growing so fast! He is definitely beginning to act like a toddler; in fact, just a few hours ago, Kearney brought him out of the bathroom after which he yelled, fell to the floor, and cried until he stopped breathing (evident because he instantly went quiet, started flailing his legs, and his face went purple). Whew! I think Kearney and I have an interesting life ahead of us. Dustin is really starting to pick-up on the whole talking thing. Just the other day, he said "rainbow" as I was showing him the rainbow in the sky. Yesterday he started saying "poop." At this point, he can say "daddy, mommy, dad, mom, no, stop, don't, up, down, out, poop, horse, dog, shoe, meow, uh oh, ball, hi, bye, Nana, ya (for c-ya);" maybe I'm forgetting some, maybe not. Today, he started a new thing where he doesn't want to be taken from his crib when he wakes up (in the AM/after his nap). It was pretty entertaining, and of course I took advantage of the situation. Every time he freaked out about leaving his crib, I left him alone and did some chore around the house for a few more minutes. He can now open the toilet seat lid (as of this week), so everything is going into the toilet. He likes to use my hairbrush and dryer to brush and "dry" his hair. He tries to climb on everything and thinks it's super cool to climb on something and then stand on it until he gets my attention. He grabbed his diapers out of his diaper bag the other day, laid down on the floor and set them on top of his pants. He knows how to knock on doors, tries to put our keys in the screw indentation on the doorknobs, and still has a complete obsession with pots and pans. It's true, what everyone says about them growing up faster than you can imagine. Even though I want to pull my hair out at times, I just can't help but to give him loves and kisses nonstop - he's just so cute and lovable.

Sick Again

On Saturday, Dustin and I went with Tyrell, JaNell, Derek and Claire to take some family pictures. Dustin fell into a dead Russian Thistle bush, and although I had to pick a bunch of slivers out of his hands/arms/clothes, I didn't think much of it. On Sunday morning he woke-up with a decent fever and pimply/blister-like spots mostly on his left hand. On Monday morning I took him to the doctor. They diagnosed him with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. He was completely miserable almost the entire week. The busiest little boy in the world just wanted to be held and sleep, and even when we were holding him, he fussed and was uncomfortable. On Thursday, he finally started feeling a little better, but on Friday morning, when his fever went away, he got a rash all over his trunk (front and back). I called the doctor Friday night and was then informed that he probably had Roseola, not Hand, Foot and Mouth. Although I know they're not perfect, I feel quite frustrated with Dustin's doctor(s). On the upside, Dustin is back to his old ways - making messes, running amok, and thoroughly wearing me out.

Hello?

Dustin has been saying "hello" on the phone for a while, but today, he put it up to his ear and had several conversations with the phone.

The Subway

JaNell, Tyrell, Kearney and I hiked the Subway in Zion.
Dustin starting climbing onto the couch/grey bin in our bedroom.

Sweatness

I got to watch a chest tube procedure in the ER tonight. Very, very cool! I almost got to watch the same patient get intibated, but there were too many nurses and EMTs in the room...and they closed the curtain too; bummer.

Whoa

Yesterday Kearney, Dustin and I were on our way to Bicknell to have my dad fix Kearney's tooth issues. For the most part (besides Kearny's tooth hurting like the dickens and both of us feeling completely exhausted), the first 2 hours of the drive were just fine. Dustin had finally fallen asleep and after checking on him and noticing a very kinked neck, I unbuckled my seat belt, turned around, placed his blanket on each side of his head and began to turn back around...and WHAM! In the time it took me to unbuckle my seat belt, turn around and fix Dustin's head/neck, Kearney had fallen asleep. We smashed head-on into a guardrail. I remember hearing the loud smashing noise, closing my eyes, shielding my head with my arms, and being tossed around like a ping-pong ball. It probably didn't take long, but while I was being thrown around I remember thinking "when is this going to end." We came to a stop, I looked around and realized what had just happened, looked at my breath (from the airbag gasses), jumped in the backseat, got Dustin out, started yelling at Kearney to get out of the car, and jumped out of and moved away from the car. Within seconds, a car and a truck pulled up and lucky for us, one of the individuals must have been an EMT...he used his walkytalky to request police support, etc. The Malibu was totalled, we took out 7 guardrail posts, and we're all okay. Dustin fared the best (thank goodness for nice rear-facing car seats), Kearney probably got a minor concussion and hurt his hand because the driver side door was smashed inwards into the car, and I got some serious whiplash and lots of purple and red bruises/abrasions. I'd say we were lucky...or blessed.

(Sorry. No pictures. The only ones with cameras were the police officers.)

When Kearney and Jo drove back to Bicknell to return my dad's truck, they stopped at the guardrail and the wrecking yard to take some pictures of the guardrail/car. (My camera and/or SD card malfunctioned and I had to have all of these pictures, including the ones from Dustin's 1st B-day, recovered. Talk about bad karma or something.)

First Night in the E.R.

No, I didn't go to the ER as a patient...I went as a volunteer! Nothing incredibly crazy happened, but it was still really awesome. Love it!