Paloma is THREE!!!

OMG PALOMA! You are so beautiful I can hardly stand it!!!

The morning surprise is a tradition. Decorations and presents waiting on the table. 

This little girl is easy to please...headbands and hand sanitizer "hanitizer" haha

Her hermanos crowded in sat close by just in case she needed help unwrapping.  

They were not impressed by her gifts, but the Peppa Pig jammies and coloring books  made the birthday girl super excited!

Paloma has been climbing out of her crib for months.  It wasn't really a problem though.  Not once did she fall out.  #expertclimber   BUT! We thought it was a good time for a "big girl bed"
 

And why not make it a surprise for her birthday?  I kept envisioning a "while you were out" scenario.  We would switch out the beds while she was at school and she would walk in and see the bed and new bedding and say her infamous line "what the heck?"

We had mentioned a big girl bed before and she liked this idea in theory, but she was not excited AT ALL when she saw it the first time. 

The next day when a guy came to our house pick up the crib (I sold in on FB mkt) she CRIIIIIIED and cried...."don't get rid of my crib mami.  I might need it when I get smaller"  waaaaaaaaaa

Besides her surprise "big girl bed" she scored this PINK balance bike.  And if you are wondering... yes, everything must be pink!

She wasn't this excited at first.  She eventually stopped crying and was excited to get outside and try out her new bike, but the emotions of the new bed spilled over into the driveway.
Upon mounting the new bike, a wave of emotion came over her.

Yes, it was a video, but Im not going to let you watch it.  It's just too sad.

After the sad bit, there was a brief mad stage, (what for???) after which she was happily dancing and smiling.

It's hard turning three. 

For a couple months before her big day, we had been seeing the trailer for the Small Foot movie.  She would say every time "should we go see small foot on my birthday?"
Yes. Yes we should.  It was cute.

After the movie it was time for the long awaited PINK CAKE! "should I have a pink birthday cake?"
I whipped up my go to white cake recipe (with almond extract-so good!) and added a few drops of red food coloring and wa-la! A pink cake! 
Add some classic buttercream frosting and a certain PIG family and I arrived at exactly what this three year old wanted.

So. Happy.

As with all birthdays, the candle must be re-lit many times for the birthday boy/girl to
 actually be the first one to blow out the candle. 

We partied like it was her birthday.

My precious, lipstick wearing beauty!

OUR FIRST [KID] EMERGENCY!

With my two daredevil boys, I can't believe we have not had an emergency room run yet.

(knock on wood)

I would not classify Paloma as a  cautious child either.   

And three weeks ago, she gave us a serious scare.

Three Fridays ago, Paloma woke up at 6:40am, climbed out of her crib and came into mami and papi's room telling us "time to get up." (she heard my alarm-which I had already snoozed)

As I was getting dressed and Ernesto was in the bathroom, we heard glass breaking and a horrible HORRIBLE scream. 

My sweet little girl thought she would pour mami and papi their first cup of coffee.  

She pulled the glass pot out, it hit the granite and the bottom shattered.  

A FULL pot of scalding hot coffee spilled out and ran over her little tummy and the underside of her forearms. 

Ernesto quickly took off her jammies and I carried her to the tub.  I ran cool water over a soft cloth and put it over her tummy repeatedly.  All the while I wept.  

Marcelo and Mateo stood watching their sister in silence.  Marcelo then asked "Mami, is Paloma going to die?"  Paloma looked at me with worried eyes waiting for the answer. UGH! It was horrible.

After about 40 minutes, of cooling her with the towel (she didn't want me to stop!) she was calm and not crying.  I followed google's advice.  If there are blisters, head to the hospital.

We live just a 10 minute drive to [Emory's] Children's Hospital of Atlanta. I loaded baby girl in the car, and left the buckle rather loose as to not touch the burn.  After 3 minutes in the car, I turned around and saw this:

A SLEEPER ?!?!?! Part of me was glad she was comfortable enough to fall asleep.  In fact, once I arrived at the hospital.  I sat in the car thinking. UGH, I don't want to wake my angel.
I have not been to an emergency room with my kids, or myself lately, but one thing I know is that IT IS  NEVER A QUICK EXPERIENCE!

So I did what anyone who has a friend that is a Doctor would do.  I called Richard, our friend of 18 years.  He is MY doctor and I trust him without question.

I told him what happened. He asked if the blisters were bigger than a nickel.  NO

He called in a prescription for Silvadine.  A miracle cream used for 2nd and 3rd degree burns.  And I drove from the hospital to Walgreens.  Unfortunately, they weren't open yet.  Fortunately, my baby was still comfortable sleeping.
When she woke up, you would not think she had just been burned.

In fact, she did not cry again about her burn.  PERIOD.  #majortrooper
While in Walgreens, I may have bought her whatever the hell she wanted.

Lipstick? Sure.  A ball? Yes. Sunglasses. Uh huh. Gummy bears? Yep.  You want a huge sucker tambien mami? Absolutely.

She could've asked me for a car and I would've bought it.  I felt sooooooooo bad.

Back home, I got her all situated, bought Charlotte's Web (both the original and the newer version) and caked on the miracle cream. 

After the movies, I wrapped her in gauze because surprisingly, she wanted to move around.

Only to crash out an hour later in our bed. 

She awoke to flowers, balloons and more candy from papi and her hermanos.

I took pictures.  Lots of pictures.  And Im warning you.....THEY AREN'T PRETTY.

By day two the blisters had popped and it was so ugly, I was crying and thought I should head to the doctor, but after talking to Richard and showing him pictures, he said this is what was going to happen.

I have to say though, that the Silvadene creme DRAMATICALLY changed this boo-boo. And quickly. By day three all of the loose skin was off and the skin started healing over.  But RED . SOOOOOO RED!

One side effect of the creme is a brown discoloration to the skin which you can really see along the edges.

As you can see, by day eight, it was really starting to look better. This little backward "z" area must have been the worst part of the burn.

Last weekend (8 days after the incident), we had our friends Floyd & Richard over for a little Doctor house call mixed with dinner and a birthday celebration.

The doctor said it "was healing beautifully" and that made me feel a whole lot better.

After almost two weeks, we stopped using the Silvadene and bandages and just continue to slather Cerave Moisterising Cream  on it.


She was back to school 3 days after the incident doing her regular beauty poses.
(bandages still under her clothes)

 She manages to make bandages beautiful, right?

 

ps. We baked banana chocolate muffins and they were THE BOMB.  I altered the recipe a bit, but unfortunately Im not sure what I did exactly....I tried to recreate them and they weren't nearly as good.  Hmm. Ill keep experimenting and let you know.

**Update:

6 months later her tummy is perfectly smooth, but still with some discoloration.  Of course, as she grows it will get smaller, but still hoping this is going to fade more over time.  Poor baby.