Max is 2!

I can not believe our baby is 2.  It's just crazy to me. He's getting so big.  To celebrate we kept it small and had Grandma & Grandpa over for dinner and cake.  He chose a white cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.  It was yummy.

There was some serious spit involved but the candles were eventually blown out.

The big gift of the day was a wagon from Grandma & Grandpa. 

All of the boys loved it.  Bo spent the rest of the day carting Sam and Max around the yard.  I can't believe we didn't own one before.   And check out those off road tires.  Perfect.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa. 

It is still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Max is 2, but here is a little more about him at this awesome age . .

- He is so much fun.  He loves to be the center of attention and has a light around him that makes everyone smile when he walks into the room.  He is definitely the baby of the family but not a push over.  He holds his own. 

-Has a very infectious belly laugh.

-Is extremely possessive of his things.  Puts up a fight if anyone takes his toy, cup, dog, etc

-Loves green beans, soup, popcorn, toast and chicken nuggets.

-Hates to wear shoes.

-Has bad eczema on his feet and hands.

- Is all about "Baby" and likes to take him everywhere.
- Will go pee pee in the potty if naked.  Runs into the bathroom and crawls up onto the toilet all by himself

- Is a binky baby and likes to have a bunch.  "1, 2, 3, 8"

- Usually takes a 1.5 - 2 hour nap around 12:30 and goes to bed in the evenings around 7:30.  He sleeps on 2 crib mattresses next to each other on the floor of his room.

- Favorite response to asking him to do something is, "No way, Man!"

- Is very picky about what he wears every day.  Very opinionated. 

- LOVES the Wiggles and Monkey (Curious George)

- Can walk on his toes like Sam

- And makes me proud everyday to be his momma.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAXY!!  I LOVE YOU.

My Babies!!

Helmets! We All Need Helmets!

( I keep going back and forth on the title of this post.  Torn on whether to put it as one of my WTF?! posts or something else because, let me assure you, "WTF" was muttered many a times during all of this.  Many many a times.) 

As if Ethan's injury wasn't enough, Wes' dad fell off the roof 2 days ago (or ladder or something; we probably will never know because he doesn't remember anything) and was knocked unconscious.  Thankfully Marcia was home and called 911.  He was laying on the ground, out, not moving, fingers bent backward.  Not good. 

All he kept talking about was the gutter and the fact that the gutter is bent.  Even the paramedics were getting a bit annoyed.  "Yes, Karl, the gutter IS bent."  (It got bent during the accident and was the first thing he saw when he woke up on the ground)

He was taken by ambulance to FMH where we quickly learned that he, too, like Ethan, had sub-cranial bleeding.  Are you kidding me?!  5 days.  5 DAYS after going through all of this with Ethan, we were right back where we started with Karl.  And like Ethan, he was medivac-ed to Anchorage to see the neurosurgeon. 

Seriously, you can't even make this stuff up. 

But thankfully, his brain contusion was small and did not have any increased pressure so the doctors just wanted to monitor him for 24 hours to make sure the bleeding would not continue.

The funny part about it is that a bunch of our friends were still in Anchorage with Ethan so Karl & Marcia had quite the welcoming party.  It was really nice for Wes and I to know that they were not down there alone but some of the pictures seem like they were having a little too much fun. 

But then again, misery does love company. . .

Ethan & Our 10th

Saturday was our 10th wedding anniversary and although the day started out great with our usual football watch party and Nebraska kicking off their season with a win over Chattanooga State (whoop whoop), it ended on a much different note. At about 5:00 that evening we got a call from our buddy Sonny saying they had an accident and Ethan was hurt badly. The words "hit a tree," "bleeding from the brain", and "ER" is about all I remember from the call.

A few of our friends had borrowed our boat for the day to go fishing up on the Richardson Clear Water but unfortunately things did not go as planned.  Story has it, they were having a great time, the weather was beautiful, the fishing not so beautiful, but they were still having a blast being out on the river until they went to move fishing spots and a sandwich baggy that was swirling around on the bow, caught wind and flew back the length of the boat.  Everyone turned to watch it land, including the driver, and when he turned back around he was 2-3 feet too far to the left.  They were heading right for a big spruce tree leaning over the water.  Harry tried to do an evasive maneuver but the super narrow river and downstream current were too much and they crashed into the tree, ejecting Ethan from the back of the boat where he had been sitting.

Once they realized Ethan was missing, they whipped the boat around and fished him out of the freezing spring fed water about 40 yards back.  Ethan was knocked unconscious but came to when they got to him.  Everyone knew it wasn't good and that time was not on there side at this point so after grabbing dry clothes and a blanket for Ethan at Harry's cabin, they high tailed it out of there and back to the landing.  Ethan was talking and joking but confused on what had happened.  His left eye was a ginormous purple plum and he was complaining about his shoulder.  They sped back to Fairbanks and straight to FMH where it was quickly determined that he had bleeding on his brain with increased pressure and a collapsed lung.  They re inflated his lung and medivac-ed him to Anchorage within the hour. 

He underwent surgery that night to remove a blood clot from behind his eye, remove part of his skull to release the pressure on his brain, insert a drain to drain the blood, and insert 4 metal plates to set all the skull fractures.  He responded well to the surgery but they wanted to wait 6 hours before trying to wake him up to see how he responded.

Around 9:45 the following morning, they did just that but he was very agitated and running a fever so they put him back under.  Over the next 3 days, they tried this a number of times, each with Ethan being very agitated and trying to pull the tube out of his throat.  One of the times it took 3 people to hold him down until they could knock him back out.  He is definitely a fighter. 

By the fourth day, they concluded that he was finally breathing 100% on his own, so they removed the ventilator and THEN tried to wake him up.  Things went much smoother.  He was awake and asking questions. 

Then miraculously, on the 8th day, he was released from the hospital.  Released!  I still can't believe it.  He still has a long road in front of him but is predicted to make a full recovery.  He is very sore and tired, is having trouble with the vision in his left eye, needs to have shoulder surgery, but is home and doing remarkably well. 

 And although I would much rather remember our 10th anniversary for different, happier reasons, I am extremely thankful that Ethan is ok and very thankful to have such a wonderful husband in my life. 

So here's to many many more.....for ALL of us.