Feeling better...looking worse!

Kayston is pretty much back to his old self again! Fighting with his sister, being sassy to mom and dad, whining a lot, and bouncing off the walls. We're glad to have him back! (I just didn't think it would be so soon!) He is pretty restricted as to what he can do though. No recess, (which is killing him) no contact sports,(which means no wrestling with Daddy) no jumping on trampolines/beds, and pretty much everything a 5 year old boy likes to do. Luckily, he has started to like coloring a lot more than he used to. He likes to mostly draw skeletons and scary things and cut them out.

Even though he is feeling better, to me, his face looks a lot worse! The swelling has gone down but the black eye is now, purple, red, blue, yellow, and green. And bruising has shown up around his other eye and down his whole cheek. Not to mention when he opens his eye all the way it looks all bloody inside. Ewww! I get chills just thinking about it. He has been such a trooper though. Tuesday night, he told us that he was ready to go back to school. I was kind of surprised considering that almost every visitor that he had, he would hide under a blanket so they couldn't see his eye.
So, I decided that I would go with him to school and sit with him for a while to just make sure that he would be ok and to maybe take him home early if it was too hard for him. As we walked into the class he pulled his hat down over his eye so the kids couldn't see. I went over and talked to his teacher explaining his situation and he ran over to his seat and started cutting out that mornings project. I went over to him and asked him if he was ok. He said yes and told me to go home. I told him he couldn't keep the hat on all day cause it would be a distraction to the other kids. He said "OK" and took off his hat. Of course all the kids started coming over to check out his big colorful eye and face. He didn't seem to even notice. I asked him again if he wanted me to stay and he told me again to go. I gave him a kiss and left his class. Before the door even shut I could feel the tears building up in my eyes. I couldn't believe how brave he was! And the thought of all the kids staring at him with that look of "ewwww gross" in their faces broke my heart.
As a parent, you want to protect your child from everything, especially getting hurt, physically and emotionally. I realized that even though I wanted so badly to stay there with him to make sure he would be ok and make sure he didn't get hurt or made fun of...I couldn't. He has to do these things on his own. And he did! And it was fine! And I am fine...now! =)
These kids just amaze me! If it were me that this happened to, I would still be laying in bed thinking I was dying! I just can't believe how fast these little ones bounce back. Just thinking about all the MANY Angels that are watching out for these kiddos makes me emotional.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for your love and support! We couldn't have made it through this without you! This is a picture with ALL the cards the primamry brought over! Kayston LOVED them!

The worst night of our lives....so far!

This past Saturday night turned out to be the worst night of our lives. It snowed that day and Kayston was DYING to go out and play in it. It had been really windy and cold all day and since our kids just got over being sick, we were mean parents and didn't let him go out to play in it. Well, later that night, around 6:15, we were waiting for my parents to come over for a movie. The wind had calmed down and so we told Kayston he could go out and play until Grandma & Grandpa got there. So he and Daddy bundled up and headed out while me and Bry stayed warm inside. Well, they decided to hook up the sled behind the 4-wheeler (as they do every year) and go for a ride. Kayston LOVES this! He is always asking to go faster and higher off the jumps. Yes, he is crazy and he has NO fear!
At first everything was great. They went around the yard and into the field. As Preston was coming around on the grass (slowly), he turned around and gave it a little gas. I was in the family room and heard the 4-wheeler rev up a little and then a HUGE bang! My first thought is that the 4-wheeler ran into the house. That's how loud it was. I ran to the front door to find Kayston laying there on the porch screaming and kicking. I was freaking out! I hadn't realized that the bang I heard was Kayston's head and face slamming into the rock wall on our house. We hurried and took him inside and I was searching frantically for blood. And then I saw his eye! It was blue and HUGE within a matter of seconds. Not only did I go to EMT school but I watch enough of those reality ER shows to know that it was a sign of head trauma.
Again, I was FREAKING out! I knew we had to get him to the hospital FAST! So I ran Bry over to my awesome neighbors house and asked them to watch out for my parents that were on their way over to our house.
You never realize how far you live from a hospital until you have to get to one fast!! I was running red lights (carefully of course) honking and flashing at people like I was in my own ambulance!
Half way to the hospital Kayston was trying to fall asleep. I knew he couldn't so we were doing everything we could to keep him awake. We finally made it to the hospital and I dropped Preston and Kayston off at the ER and I went to park the car. When I got in there, Preston was sitting there with Kayston filling out paper work. I also hadn't seen Kayston's face since we left the house and his eye was triple the size and his whole left side of his face was bruised, scraped and swollen. I flipped out! Why in the He** wasn't anybody looking at my son? Could they not see his enormous eye and face? They finally took him back but still didn't seem to think this was much of an emergency. I kept telling them that he was trying to fall asleep and that he needs to see a doctor NOW!!! Well, after about an hour after the accident happened, they finally ordered a CT scan. So much for the "critical hour" huh?!? The CT scan showed that he had a depressed skull fracture, 2 small fractures above his eye and a concussion. The 2 fractures on his eye were straight brakes so they weren't too worried about them. The fracture on his skull moved about a millimeter. They said that if had moved any farther, it could have caused bleeding to the brain and he would have had to have surgery. He also was complaining of his tummy hurting so they took X-rays of his ribs and did an ultra sound of his tummy to make sure there was no internal bleeding. Turns out his ribs were bruised pretty badly but luckily no breaks.
Kayston's mental state was still not normal so they wanted to monitor him over night to make sure that there was no bruising or swelling on his brain. It was long and scary night but
the next morning Kayston was acting more like Kayston! =) He had another CT scan and it showed no change so we were able to come home.
It turns out that what happened was, when Preston turned around on the 4-wheeler and gave it some gas, the snow was more like ice and Kayston went way faster then he should have. Poor Preston turned around and knew what was going to happen and couldn't do a thing about it. He watched his 5 year old son slam into a rock wall face first. (It was funny/sad...in the hospital Kayston told Preston; " I didn't let go of the sled did I daddy!" and he seemed so proud!)
I can't believe how tough our little guy is! After realizing that what I heard was Kayston's face, I am truly surprised that he is even alive. Somebody was definitely watching over him that night!
I am so grateful for all the people that were praying for us and for Preston and my dad for giving Kayston a blessing. I truly believe that that is the reason he is going to be ok.
Thank you to everyone who visited, said prayers, brought cards, called, and brought meals. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and caring people. We love you all!! ♥

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to grab my camera before we left for the hospital so most of the pictures are on my phone. I will post them as soon as I figure out how to get them off my phone.

This picture was taken right when we got home from the hospital. I do have to say, that it doesn't do justice for what his face really looks like!

HaLLowEEn 2009....

I think Halloween keeps getting better and better as the kids get older. Kayston is at the stage where he tells me what he wants to be and he gets SO excited about it. He loves everything scary...as you can tell by his costume! Brylee loved being a pretty butterfly too! And her favorite part...carrying around HER pumpkin with all HER candy in it! She thought she was such a big girl!
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We sure did!! =)

This is Kayston before school on Friday. They had their Halloween party and parade but they weren't allowed to wear masks....I think he still looks pretty scary though!
Our sweet LiTTle BuTTerfly and our totally CrEEpy SkElEtoN ZomBiE!!!
SCARY!!!
Off they go!
We had great weather and got lots of candy! Oh, and Kayston only tripped twice this year!!