Halloweentime At Disneyland

We renewed our Disneyland annual passes this October and have been taking advantage of the Halloween-themed parks. Two of my sisters came into town the past couple weeks and we were more than happy to meet them at the happiest place on earth. Cash is almost to the age where he enjoys this kind of stuff. I said almost. He just kind of sits back and watches everything. He doesn't get scared unless he gets sprayed in the face with water. Otherwise he is just tentatively observing. The first sign of enjoyment he gave was when we were getting on the Peter Pan ride. He sat down on the boat and grabbed the bar to pull it down over his lap without us doing anything. That was it. It was a significant moment cause it was his way of showing us that he was ready to get on the ride. We're still waiting for any show of happiness or excitement. We are getting there.

 

Casey just comes along for the ride because he isn't much of a theme park guy. But he enjoys watching Cash experience everything. And he commented this past time, "I swear this is the only place on earth where you are truly happy." I mean he's totally exaggerating of course, but I do love me some Disneyland. Especially this time of year. I can't wait for the Christmas decorations to go up!

P.S. I'm pregnant. Baby #2 due May 2011.

Scarred for Life

We faced our first big crisis as parents on Saturday. We drove down to San Clemente to my brother Tim's house to help with his campaign. He is running for San Clemente City Council. I volunteered to watch the kids while all the adults walked door to door to hand out fliers. While babysitting, Cash tripped over their rug and went face first into their coffee table. There was blood everywhere and I knew he had cut his lip. I rushed him into the kitchen and I was running cold water over his mouth and hands. Trying to figure out where all of this blood was coming from. He was crying pretty hard at first, but then settled down to just being sad. At first I thought there was blood on the top of his lip that needed to be washed off. Then I realized it was two big cuts on the top of his lip. His bottom teeth had gone through his upper lip on the outside. I couldn't find any cuts on the inside of the lip, so it didn't go all the way through. I called Casey to come home because we had to go to the hospital. I was kind of surprised at how calm I was after that. I grabbed a popsicle out of the freezer to keep him happy and stop the bleeding. Casey finally got there and we drove to the hospital. I was worried about it leaving a scar on his perfect little face, so we chanced the expense of the ER to see a doctor in case he needed stitches.

We spent 5 hours in the ER that night. The doctor said the cuts were too wide for super glue and there was risk of the wound opening with how much the mouth moves. He said stitches was the way to go and we had two options. Either hold him down and stitch him while he was awake. Or put him under. I wasn't too thrilled about having him scream and squirm around while the doctor stitched his lip, so we decided to put him under. It was pretty rough getting the IV in and having him hooked up to all of those monitors. We just had to keep him distracted with The Incredibles. Thank goodness for iPhones.

The doctor started stitching him and I couldn't watch. I just held his little hand and focused on his breathing. In and out. Poor little guy. At least he won't remember it. Coming out of the anesthesia was scarier than I thought it would be. I thought he would be pretty funny or loopy. Instead he was screaming and terrified. The doctor said that sometimes they can hallucinate when they are waking up. His eyes couldn't focus and he was shaking and screaming. I just picked him up and sang him all his favorite songs. Eventually he started coming to and recognizing my voice. He was such a little trooper. It was a scary and emotional night, but we got through it together. I'm really sad about him having a scar on his face when he's so young. But accidents happen. We are just glad he's okay. We're okay. We are now officially the parents of a boy. I'm sure that won't be our last crisis. Now we're prepared.

Cashmoney

 My sister Jacque took Cash's one-year-old pictures when we were in Utah. Here's our handsome little man.

We flocked to Aspen

"A little place called Aspen. Where the beer flows like wine, and the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano."
Dumb and Dumber

Little known fact. Casey's favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber. Littler known fact, the movie is actually filmed in Breckenridge, CO. Joke's on us. We were all excited to road trip to Aspen and see some sights from the movie. It wasn't until we got there and looked up the hotel they stayed in, to find out it wasn't there. Bummer. We were in Breckenridge a few weeks ago and had no idea. Oh well. Aspen was still beautiful and a fun place to visit.

Casey and Ty were playing in the Motherlode tournament in Aspen on Labor Day weekend in September. This tournament is sort of a big deal in outdoor volleyball world and Casey has been many times. It was the first time for Cash and I. We spent a lot of time walking around the little town and exploring. Casey and Ty ended up winning the tournament. Again. They are seriously on fire.We had a fun little weekend there. And lots of good food. Part of the prize was gift cards to this fancy steakhouse and we feasted. It was much needed. Also much needed, a babysitter for Cash. He was so tired and cranky, that he could have ruined the dinner if the food wouldn't have been way too good to be bothered by his foul mood. Our poor little baby has spent so much time in a car this summer. Here's how we keep him happy.

After more than two months on the road, we are finally home. Boy it feels good to be home. I hope we don't leave for a long long time.