Trimming the Tree

Seth and I decorated the tree this afternoon.

He had a name for each ornament.  He insisted that the reindeer ornament and the Santa ornament be hung on the same branch.  

Because they belong together :-)

Seth wanted this star at the very top.

While I was taking pictures, he attempted to climb the tree in order to get the 

star to the very top.

The Horvath family tree.  It leans slightly to the left, but we love it anyway.

Leaving on a jet plane...

The high today in Dallas: 52 degrees.  The high today in the LA area: 85 degrees.  We will be peeling off the layers when we touch down in sunny Orange County, CA.

5 Things I am Looking Forward to over the next 7 Days...

1.) Palm trees in the yard and mountains a few miles away

2.) Going to the beach and the Santa Monica Pier

3.) In-n-Out Burger!

4.) Going out on a few dates with Steve A-L-O-N-E (no kiddos)

5.) Seeing family and friends that we miss

yummmmmmmmmm.  I can almost taste it. :-)

The Saga Continues

This is Part II of "The Weekend Saga".  If you would like to start at the beginning, please click HERE to read Part I.

Then, we look down at the people sitting at the table eating with Lonnie and it is Donald Miller, Erwin McManus and Robbie Seay (of the Robbie Seay Band). In other words, it is the room where all the people who are speaking and singing for the evening hang out.  Donald Miller wrote Blue Like Jazz, which is one of our favorite books of all time.  Erwin McManus wrote Seizing Your Divine Moment and The Barbarian Way.  The Robbie Seay Band wrote the song "Song of Hope" which we just sang at church last Sunday.  Great lyrics.

So of course we immediately engaged in a lively and intellectual conversation with these passionate thinkers and artists that we admire. 

NOT!

I had to hit the road and meet my mom at the ER and I left Steve to fend for himself.  He hung out in the Green Room for a while, but then he had to go and register for the conference so he could get his "goody" bag.  Then he went with Lonnie to find a seat, and Lonnie took him right up to the front row, promptly ripped a "RESERVED" sign off a seat, and told him to sit down.  1 seat down from Donald Miller.  Nice.

I headed to the hospital to meet my mom.  We actually pulled into the parking lot at the same time, and I got to see my little boy in all of his wounded glory.  I couldn't really look at the cut for more than about 3 seconds without getting a little woozy.  It was gaping open, and sometimes when the pool of blood was gone you could see a little something dark blue down inside. Eeeeek! (These pictures were taken after we cleaned him up a little bit.  When I first saw him, he had blood smeared on his cheeks and under his eyes from rubbing his hands in it.)

Those pictures were taken in the car during our 2 hour wait to get into a room. We tried the waiting room first, but all Caleb wanted to do was run around and climb on chairs and I didn't want him getting blood everywhere.  I also didn't want him getting other sick people's germs all over him!  So we headed to the car and my mom sat in the waiting room so she could hear when they called us back.

Once they called us into a room, it was almost another hour and a half before they actually stitched him up.  First they looked him over, discussed using the skin glue Dermabond but then decided that there was too much tension on that area of the faces.  They ruled out sedating him because then we would have to stay several more hours after the procedure to make sure he didn't have any reactions to the sedative.

So they told us they were coming right back to give him stitches.  An hour later, the PA strolled in and said they were ready.  A big guy comes in to hold Caleb's head still, and it turns out we went to school together, elementary through high school.  Small world.

This is the process of restraining a two year old for stitches:

1.) They stood him up on the bed and held a pillowcase behind his back.  They slipped both his arms into it which formed a little straight jacket.  (My claustrophobic heart started beating faster at this point.)  

2.) They then wrapped a bed sheet tight around him 3 or 4 times to make a little cocoon.  Have you ever heard the term "Madder than a little hornet"?  This phrase applies perfectly to this particular situation.

3.) They laid him flat on his back, and Mark (my childhood classmate :-) stood at the top of the bed and placed a hand on each side of Caleb's head.  His entire job consisted of completely immobilizing Caleb's head.  Let me tell you, he was sweating profusely by the end of the ordeal. Caleb is one strong little guy!

4.) The PA looked at me and said, "Are you going to get emotional?  Because if you are, it would be better for Caleb and everyone else if you just waited in the hall."  I know, I know....his nickname was Mr. Sensitive.

5.) I took a deep breath, gave Mr. Sensitive a defiant look (not really) and helped out by laying myself across Caleb's legs to keep him from karate kicking anyone in the head.  I could not bring myself to watch the stitching.  

6.)  Mr. Sensitive gave Caleb several shots to numb the area.  He said this was the only part that would actually hurt.  He then gave him 6 stitches and I just prayed the whole time that God would guide his hands and he would stitch it so perfectly that there wouldn't be a scar.  

7.) He finished up, they taped a big piece of gauze across the wound, and they finally let Caleb up. We unwrapped him from his little cocoon and took his arms out of the pillowcase straight jacket, and the poor little guy was sweating like it was 110 degrees.

They brought him a grape popsicle with a fancy little cup contraption to catch the drips. Caleb was digging on the popsicle

So here is my cute little bulldozer with his cut all stitched up.

It hasn't seemed to slow him down one little bit!

We are going back to the ER tonight to get the stitches removed, and we have to repeat the whole pillowcase straight jacket cocoon process.  Good times.

When I talked to my friend Amy about what happened, she said, "Scars are cool on boys!"

I am still praying for no scar :-)

EDITOR'S NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that I didn't say HOW he cut his head open.  Whoops!  He was jumping on a bed which has a cedar chest at the end of it.  NO, my parents do not let him jump on the beds.  He just does, and then someone has to go and retrieve him.  My Dad was reaching for him, and Caleb threw himself down on what he thought was the bed.  What he actually threw himself down on was the corner of the cedar chest.  Ouch.

The Weekend Saga

The weekend started out great. Steve and I took the boys to a park on Friday around 11am. The weather was beautiful, and we saw a boy from Seth's class there. They played together and had a grand old time. Seth sometimes forgets that not EVERYONE lets their kids pee outside, and since there was no bathroom to be found.....

He christened the wood chips. Pretty much right next to where everyone was playing. The funny thing was, no one really batted an eye.

Here is Caleb. Enjoying his swing. Running free. Totally unaware of what awaited him later that night.



That evening, we had plans to go to THIS conference. When Steve used to work at Starbucks, a guy named Lonnie used to come in all the time and they hit it off. He ran into him not long ago, and Lonnie works for Right Now, which was organizing the conference.

He was going to be there. And he was too. And him. And these guys. (And Steve said this guy rocks his world.)

So the tickets are $199 per person. Steep....and not in our budget. Lonnie so graciously gave us two tickets for free to attend the conference. Wow! Thanks Lonnie! (he doesn't read this blog, just thought a shout out was due.)

Seth and Caleb were set to stay with my parents. We left around 4:30 and headed to Irving, which is almost an hour away. We were just pulling into a restaurant to eat, when Steve's cell phone rang. My mom.

"Ummm, Courtney. Caleb fell and hit his head and I am not sure if he needs stitches or not."

Honestly, it is by the grace of God that he hasn't had stitches before. He falls all the time AND hits his head all the time, but he has never had a cut bad enough to need stitches. Yet. Until now. I felt so bad for my mom.

So she takes him over to our friend Robert's, who is a fireman. He determines that yes, he is going to need stitches. The cut was deep and also in a place that has a lot of tension on it (right between the eyes). My mom takes him to the Acute Kids Urgent Care. This place is awesome, we have been a couple times. It is open in the evenings and on the weekends. They can do a lot of things that the ER can do, but it is totally kid friendly.

At this point, my mom is saying that she wants us to go ahead and go to the conference. There is no wait at the Urgent Care place, Caleb will get his stitches, and she will get back home before his bedtime. Not a big deal, enjoy your evening.

I was definitely torn, but I knew how bad Steve wanted to go to this conference. And by the time we drove all the way back, Caleb would already have his stitches and there wouldn't be much we could do.

So we eat dinner here, and probably will never go back. Slow service and mediocre food. We head to the church that is hosting the event, and as we pull into the parking lot, the cell phone rings. My mom.

"Ummm....the doctor at the Urgent Care says that we need to take him to the hospital ER. They can't sedate him here, and because of where the cut is on his face, they want to make sure they can keep him really still in order to stitch it well."

I know at this point that no matter what my mom says, I am going to meet her. You just never know what might happen at the ER. On a Friday night. Nuff said.

So we are in Irving, at the doorway of this amazing conference, and I have to get back to Plano. Then, I have an epiphany!

"Let's try to find Lonnie (the guy that gave us the tickets) and see if he can take you home!"

We walked in, and there were tons of people swarming around everywhere. What are the chances that the first person I walk up to and ask, "Do you know Lonnie that works for Right Now?" would respond with, "Ya! Let me call him and find out where he is." Score.

Long story short, we are escorted through the throngs of people, down a hall, down some stairs, around a corner and we find ourselves walking towards a room with a sign above the door that says, "Green Room". The guy that is escorting us points to Lonnie across the room, and we make our way over to him. "Steve Horvath, my man!" He is the kind of guy that makes you feel like a rock star because he seems so genuinely happy to see you. We chat a minute, tell him our sad story, and he says "Of course I can take Steve home." Then he sort of laughs and says, "How did you guys get down here?" We're like, what do you mean? What exactly is "down here"....

Then, we look down at the people sitting at the table eating with Lonnie, and it is...

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Slow Metamorphosis of Seth's Room

Emphasis on the "slow".

The Horvath's always have a running list of house projects to either start or finish up.  We are not always so great at the "completion" part, but we are great at the "getting excited about starting" part!

Seth's room has been on my list for quite a while.  He got a great set of bunk beds last April from our friends Mark and Sam when their boys outgrew them. It was time to change from the nursery to a big boy's room! Seth loves bears, mostly sparked by the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?".  So I was hoping to incorporate something about bears into his room.

I found this pillow last summer at Target.  

I purchased it as my inspiration piece for the room. I like to find one thing that I like, then look around at lot's of different places to try and find things to pull together. I am not really a fan of buying all the coordinating bedding, wall hangings, curtains, etc. It is more fun to go hunting for just the right thing at just the right price. I know that probably sounds like a big fat waste of time to some folks, but that is just how I like to do things.

So the only other thing we bought from the line at Target was this.
Seth was with me, and well....the rest is history.  I mean, how cute is he?  I couldn't resist him either.  His whole belly is filled with those little bean bag beads, so he makes the perfect pillow. And I wasn't really prepared for a knock down drag out fight to get Seth's hands pried off of him.  

See what I mean? It was love at first sight!

I have been wanting to get over to Canton for First Monday Trades Days to look for some rustic things for his room. If you don't live in Texas and haven't heard of Canton....well, let's just say it is a feast for the senses. It is a HUGE flea market/craft fair with all kinds of foods to eat, live animals for sale, new stuff, old stuff. SO MUCH STUFF that it can be overwhelming. It is about 2 hours from us, and lot's of people camp out there for the weekend because you really can't see everything in one day.

Since I haven't been able to get over there yet, I have been browsing Ebay. I found several different rustic, metal signs that I liked. I showed them all to Seth and let him pick the two that he liked the best. These are the two that he picked:


I made sure to only show him the signs with "friendly" bears. Because there were some seriously mean looking bears on some of the signs. (I think those were more for Hunting cabins and not little boys rooms!)

The signs arrived in the mail on Monday, and on Tuesday he wanted to take them to school with him. I would say that he likes them!

Caleb's New Fashion Statement

When your kids are young, it is fun to think about what they might be like when they get older.  One thing we know about Caleb: he is not a conformist.  He has what some like to call the "own agenda" personality.  Independent and strong-willed would also be a good fit for our little guy.

So when we walked in his room this morning and saw this:

I thought to myself, "Maybe he is thinking about starting a new fashion trend!"

He was feeling a bit shy at first and didn't want to divulge the creative thoughts behind this new look.

But it is great for the kid who is on the go!

So don't be surprised if you see other fashion-forward two year olds sporting this new look soon. Caleb, you are a trend-setter baby!

At Long Last...

It's finally open!

There has been a new shopping center development going in about 5 minutes from our house, and the store I have been the most excited about is Sprout's Farmers Market. I have been getting their circular for a couple years, but the closest store has been about 25 minutes away.

Their Mission Statement is "Helping America eat healthier, live longer and spend less." Amen!

Just walking through their store helps inspire me to make healthier choices for my family because I feel like I can AFFORD to there. Instead of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers being $1.69 a piece, they are $.69 per pepper. I got asparagus for $1.88 per lb., Fuji apples for $.57 per lb, and limes 5 for $1.


They have great sales, and if you go on Wednesdays, it is double sales day: both the circular from the past week and the circular from the following week are honored.

One of our favorite finds there has been Mom's Best natural cereals. They have great varieties, they don't use any additives, preservatives, artificial anything, or corn syrup.

They are normally $2.99 each, which is a great price for cereal, but they are currently 2 boxes for $4. We love cereal, so I stocked up! All the varieties we have tried have been seriously yummy. Cheerios don't last long in this house, and these are sweetened just a touch with cane juice. Um-ummm.

Caleb loves Mom's Best, too. In fact, I was drying my hair in my bathroom the other day, and my sweet young innocent son walked in and took me by the hand and began to pull me. I turned off the dryer and followed behind him to see what he wanted. He led me out of our bathroom, through our bedroom, through the living room, down the hall and into his brother's room. As we turned the corner, he dropped my hand, and he looked up at me with those big blue eyes as if to say, "Isn't this the most beautiful thing you ever saw?"

I then sang the clean up song as we both put all the little squares back into the bag together. I told my sister this story, and she said, "You took pictures of his handy work AND you sang songs with him. I'd say it might happen again!". I didn't think about it like that...