You should see the other guy...

I have to interrupt the posts about last weeks' trip to visit Derek to share about yesterday's afternoon spent at Children's Mercy (once again).

It all started at 10ish this morning when Jackson fell on hit his face on the fireplace mantle. I didn't see the accident, but I looked as soon as I heard the thud. His poor little body was just shaking as he cried- it just hurt so bad! His eye had already turned purple in the time it took me to rush over to him.

This is right after it happened, after I was able to calm him down (Elmo DVD)

I didn't know quite what to do next. I called left a message for the nurse at Jackson's doctor office and I sent picture texts to friends and family for advice. I mean, I don't want to be the mom who takes her child to urgent care several times a year just for dramatic stories to tell. There was a general consensus that we should get it checked out, so we headed over to Children's Mercy.

A friend from church came to look after Chacey and James so I didn't have to take three kids (Debbie, you are awesome!). It took about an hour to get checked in through triage, to get a room, and to see the doctor. Jackson didn't like the doctor much at all cried, "I'm done!! I'm done!!" the entire time she just tried to look at his boo-boo. She decided stitches were necessary (though she called them something else) and she started to explain about the numbing gel that needs to set for 30 minutes and I was like, "Yeah, yeah... we've done this before. I know what's going on."

The numbing gel under the patch

Jackson was actually pretty good for being hungry, tired, and having what I can only imagine as being an awful headache. Children's Mercy is stocked with all sorts of goodies to pass the time. Jackson colored with markers and played with trains. He was having fun.

It was over an hour before the parade of staff crowded into our room- the doctor, a nurse practitioner, two RN's, and a child entertainer (I'm sure she has a more official name). And from this point on, Jackson did not have any more fun. They wrapped him up in a contraption that looks as if it were taken from a toddler psychiatry ward-- a long board that velcro-ed him in at the shoulder, mid-section, and legs. It took the two RNs to hold his head still and I held his legs. The child entertainer came with all sorts of gimmicks in her bag to distract him-- bubbles, Elmo books, flashy toys-- but nothing helped at all. He was just mad. The doctor reassured me that he wasn't in pain, that the numbing gel did it's job. It was only because of the restraint. That makes sense, but it was still awful to help hold him down and to hear his screams, even if you know it's for the better!

He ended up with three stitches. It didn't take long to settle down after they were finished, especially after one of the nurses brought in some juice, teddy grahams, and a lunchable. He's back to his normal self, though he looks like he got in one heck of a fight! Here are some pictures from this morning:

Stitches up top, black eye on bottom

He's a happy boy, back to his silly, rambunctious self!

I'm still wondering if there is a patient-rewards or frequent-flyer program for the hospital. So anyway, this was our day yesterday. I will be back tomorrow to talk about Derek's actual graduation. It was probably the coolest part of the whole weekend.

Visiting Derek, part 2: Family Day

Family Day Ceremony
A family day ceremony is always held the day prior to the actual basic training graduation. We found our way to the Sand Hill, the special part of Fort Benning that is reserved for basic training, and over to the Delta 3/47 barracks. There was a short ceremony- a little bit of history detail, awards given to a few soldiers and drill sergeants, and the explanation of the honor of wearing the black beret.

Jackson, who had been up until almost 2am the night before, wasn't all that cooperative so I missed out on a lot of what was said, but I knew enough to be super proud and to know that my moment to actually see his face was coming soon! I'm not sure there are really any words to describe this moment, just pure excitement and joy.

When we first got to meet up with Derek, Jackson did his I'm-purposely-avoiding-eye-contact face, where he is trying to look at Derek without looking at Derek. He looked like he might cry. But, that only lasted a second before he really realized it was Daddy. Here is Derek's first open mouth, slobbery and wet, but loving kiss from Jackson.

Immediately after we got to say hi, all married soldiers and their wives had a mandatory meeting. What genius planned that!? To finally get to see our loved ones for the first time in 10 weeks and then have to sit in a meeting. I think it's safe to say that not very many people were actually listening. 

Derek's Highly anticipated First Meals

As soon as the meeting was over, Derek wanted to get off post as soon as possible and then go get something to eat! We had Fudruckers for lunch and Texas Road House for dinner-- yum and yum!! He had been anticipating a Dr. Pepper for a long time, but it turns out it was just too sweet. He still enjoyed the food, though I would have to remind him that he didn't have to shovel it in-- that he had more than five minutes to down his whole plate of food!

Jackson and Daddy wasted no time in getting back to their silly little games. Even though the picture didn't turn out all that great, you can still really see the smile on Jackson's face looking up at his Daddy.

Jackson's Birthday Celebration
We decided a long time ago that we wanted to have a little celebration for Jackson's birthday while we were there to make sure Derek could be a part of it. I purchased some cookies while we were at Fudruckers, I packed some candles, and the hotel let us use the breakfast room. We sang Happy Birthday and he enjoyed opening his presents-- Elmo socks, some Elmo books, Elmo DVD's (from Grandma and Grandpa), and a train.

We spent the afternoon picking up some things at Walmart (namely ibuprofen and junk food). Derek was insistent at purchasing a mini-laptop. When Walmart didn't have a very good selection, we headed over to Best Buy. I tried every line I could to persuade him just to wait until the next day to get one... "they are so impractical, why not just get a new laptop?", "why don't you check out Dell because of the military discount they offer?"... but nothing worked!! I literally had to look at him and say, "I am really telling you, you cannot purchase a laptop right now." He finally backed down, but only because it was so completely obvious that I already had purchased one. He was still pretty surprised when I gave it to him at little Jackson's birthday celebration. Being a good wife, I already had it charged and ready for him to start customizing and playing with his new toy. (I'm so glad I ended up getting him one because he actually has computer and phone privileges each night, if he has time-- so we can email and Skype to keep in touch!)

Ultrasound
Once we were got the surprising news that I was pregnant, I began planning how to get Derek as involved as possible being several states away. I picked out the ultrasound place and made an appointment before Derek had even left! I knew 20 weeks was far enough along to find out the gender of the baby and I wasn't going to find out without Derek right there with me! Derek and I went back to the room to be the first to know if we were going to have a little girl or a little boy-- and then Forrest, Linda, and Julie came back too.

 Our precious little girl

We got to spend nearly half an hour just looking at our little girl, watching her movements, and all of the little details we could see. It's still pretty early for the best 3D sonogram pictures, but we were still able to get a good glimpse of her. And we have a DVD too.

Can you see her smiling at us?!

We had a jam-packed, crazy-busy day, but it was so nice to have Derek around! We had to take him back to the post by 8:00 that night. We came back to the hotel to rest up and get ready for his graduation the next day!

Visiting Derek, part 1: The airplane

So, my test is over and I can finally blog guilt-free about our trip. I'm going to break it up into a few different sections so it's not just one crazy long post. I know that not all of my readers care about all the little details, but I lack all scrapbooking ability and desire, so this also serves as my memory book.

Tuesday- The Flight
On the morning we were going to fly out to Georgia, I told Jackson that we were going to see Daddy. His response, "Yay!" and clapped his hands. Then he said, "air-pain"-- and didn't stop talking about airplanes all day.

Going through security was a pain-- taking off the shoes (no belt with stretchy, maternity pants!), unpacking the liquids, the medical liquids, major electronics, collapsing the stroller, and loading all of our bags onto the belt to be scanned. It took for-ev-er, but no hassles!

Jackson had a blast looking out of the windows at the planes. But then, he kept talking about trains and I couldn't figure out why. I know the kid loves trains, but there were clearly no trains on the runway. Until I realized he was talking about all of the little carts that carry two or three luggage cars, which I do suppose look like trains!

When it was time to board the plane, he walked his little self all the way down the ramp with his bag some friends let us borrow. I knew he'd want to roll that thing all by himself!

It was practically an empty flight-- less than half full, which was nice. Jackson had his own seat and between eating dinner (Jimmy John's) and watching home videos of him and Derek... we were landing in no time.

So, as if flying "up, up" in an airplane wasn't enough excitement for one day, we got to ride not one, but two trains at the Atlanta airport. Jackson was just in little boy heaven (and Forrest a little bit too). What was really funny, is that Jackson would mimic all of the sounds he heard-- the dinging noise when the doors would close, the vroom sounds as we started to go, and even the "psshhh" of the brakes. It was so cute.

And what other purpose does a stroller have at an airport than carrying all of the luggage? It's certainly not going to hold the busy-body son of mine... and this is only a portion of what I really pushed around! Right after this picture, we picked up the car seat which fit upside down... and then when Jackson got tired of walking (because the Atlanta airport is humongous) , he sat on top of the upside-down carseat, on top of the stroller. If you do look closely, you can see Jackson's Daddy doll holding on for dear life, so at least there was some sort of baby in the stroller, even if it was pretend.

After we got our rental car, a very nice 2011 something-something minivan (seriously, this thing made minivans cool) with a whopping 265ish miles, we made our way down to Columbus to check into our hotel and prep for getting to see Derek the next morning!!

(There will be no post about the flight coming home. The flight was past bedtime and completely full. I was peed on, sneezed on, jumped on, wallered on, spilled on-- both water and Coke, cried at, and anything else you could possible think of... longest. flight.ever. Jackson only has a couple more weeks to qualify as a lap-child for a free seat anyway, but I would never, ever, ever take him as a lap child again. Ever. But we made it home, that's all that matters, right?! Who cares if the people sitting in front of and behind us, hate us!?!?)

Still Recovering

We made our way back to Kansas City late Sunday night. Our time in Georgia was simply wonderful, especially because we got to hang out with Derek for a few extra days than expected!! I have tons to blog about and will get to it after my test in Counseling Theories tonight.


In the past week, my emotions have taken a ride on a ginormous roller coaster and so I'm doing my best at bringing myself back to normal. The great time we had together only made me miss him more, but I'm reminding myself of what Derek told me as we said our good-byes, "This sucks, but it's just one more step for me coming home for good." I can't wait until then!! It's less than six months away-- how exciting!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip:

Preview of our Day

Today has simply been a wonderful day. I really can't describe it any other way. Here's a quick preview of our day... I'll post more about it all when I have more time and a better internet connection (after I get home on Sunday night)!

Ohmigosh... this moment was wonderful.

Jackson giving Daddy big smiles at Fudruckers lunch.

"If you want any Doritos, you need to get another bag because these are for me. I'm not sharing.

Our family!

(More details to come about our bun in the oven)

Jackson's birthday celebration!

Derek's graduation present: a mini laptop

(what I am currently using to share these pics with you)

 Derek and his buddy Crow

Me: You don't have to look so ticked off in every picture...

Derek: They train us to kill. We're supposed to look ticked off. 

Me: Whatever.

 

 It was a long day...

Tomorrow is the actual graduation (today was Family Day). We will then drive up to Atlanta to drop Forrest off at the airport and then drive over to Fort Gordon (Augusta, GA) before Derek and I get a date night!! Looking forward to another great day!