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.

A Modern Tree House

Well the kids are back at school so it's time for another project!! 

Ever since we moved bought our house (two years ago) these huge trees behind the carport have been begging for a treehouse to be built between them.

They were COVERED in English ivy (as is most of the woods behind our house) so the first step was clearing it off.

Next these two 2x12 boards were screwed into the tree.  And I mean SCREWED in with 6 inch BOLTS!!!  8 of them!
Ernesto built the platform in our driveway.  It was BIG and HEAVY.

If only I had a picture//video of us moving it with one corner on a skateboard!  😅
We leaned it up against the trees and I left thinking he would be asking the neighbors to help him get it up on the boards ...about 10 feet up!

Nope!  He came in the house dripping sweat chanting "That's right! That's right!"

He still will not tell me HOW he got that platform in place.  He just says "you doubted me."

I didn't though....I didn't doubt, I just assumed he would need help.  The two of us could barely get it to the trees, how in the hell would he lift it by himself?!?

 

At this point we weren't sure of the design of the treehouse.  Ernesto had ordered this book on Amazon where he found the "plans" for the platform.  

 We were debating a shed roof (me) or an A-frame (him) for the design.

Spoiler alert: I won.  I thought the shed would be roomier for the kids. BUT! I loved the look of the A-frame.  In fact, I now can't stop looking at A-frame houses and I STILL think Ernesto could/should get his chance to build one....maybe on a lake???? 

 We He could TOTALLY build this!!  Right after he renovates our airstream! LOL.  Hey! I have always been a dreamer guys but ....it's possible!

Anyhoo, back to our CURRENT project!! 

These guys are already good at climbing up and down ladders-even while carrying things! They are going to make great Christmas Light Pros!

Maybe we don't even need proper stairs?? (just kidding mom!)

The walls were constructed ON the platform.  Painting was also done before walls were put into place.  We went with the same color as the "main house" Slate (by Behr) or maybe it was Dark Night by Valspar.  Either way its black! 

 

Here I am holding up wall #1.  Look at those muscles!!

The carpenter added the support boards and it was on to the next wall.

 

Yes, wall 2, then wall 3...Here is where you will have to use your imagination.  
It's a slanted roof, so the front wall is taller than the other three.

Roof boards were next and plywood over top....I won't bore you with the details.

If you are here LOOKING for details, you need to check out ModFrugal .  After we decided on this design and had the platform built we came across their blog and TOTALLY used their detailed instructions/suggestions.  No need to re-invent the wheel here. Hopefully imitation makes them feel flattered in this case. 😬

All of a sudden we had a "structure!"  And I was LOVING it!!  Just like the black on our house,  I think it just blends so nicely in the woods.






































Before the front wall was finished, railing was a priority because #crazykids




 
Ernesto whipped up a secure kid corral with hog wire. Bigger and heavier duty than chicken wire.
It's secure, and Im loving the look.
With the black painted railings, I'd say it looks pretty modern, right?
 
Still no stairs but my kids are sooooooo good at climbing ladders.  I guess that is good because, well, they will be working on ladders soon enough.  #futurechristmaslightpros

The kids helped when they could, but mostly just kept papi company outside.  Mateo was very into hammering the little nails to create the door.

We plan to have a proper sliding door, but the screen door (above) is an attempt to keep down the number of bugs trying to move in. Ernesto added little screens on the openings where the roof meets the walls as well.  

Above is the view from our neighbor's house....below is the view from our living room windows.

Next up:  proper stairs and our first campout ...probably not in that order. haha

My hopes for the treehouse are that it is a space the kids WANT to hang out in...so what suggestions do you have for the inside???  (Mateo suggested a TV 😂--Not happening, but boy...that would do the trick, wouldn't it?)