The day Samuel turned 2

The past couple of days have been busy in the Askew household.  Sam is turning 2 and we had planned to have a few friends over to celebrate his birthday.  Naturally, there was a lot of cleaning, tidying, and food prep involved.  We were ready.  Until this morning.

Sam falls asleep in his own bed, in his own room.  However, between 1 and 2 am, he wanders into our room and ends up in our bed.  Last night was no different.  What's different was that this morning at around 4:30 am, he started vomiting.  Then again; and again, and again.  In between throwing up, my little boy whined and cuddled with mommy and daddy.  It broke my heart.  Why does he have to get sick now, on his special day.  Not on his 2nd birthday.  Maybe it was something he ate, maybe it'll go away.  But it didn't.  He kept throwing up that we made a decision to take him to the ER.  The Dr. said he has a stomach virus and it's contagious.  Naturally we contacted our guests and cancelled his party.

We took him home a few hours later.  Thankfully with the medicine, the vomiting abated.  He was able to keep down sips of apple juice, which seems to be enough to keep him hydrated.  We took a long nap and when we woke up, he seemed better, except for the redness in his bum due to wet poopies.  And we changed him every 20 minutes or so and his bum got worse and worse that with each diaper change, he is screaming after each wipe.

This is what Sam had to endure today, on his birthday.  It's taking a lot for me to not break down and cry every 30 minutes, but every time I hear him cry, my heart breaks more and more.  Josh picked up his cake from our friend, Charmaine, who very creatively and lovingly created a train-shaped cake for Sam.  It is beautiful.  I will save taking a picture later, as we will be celebrating Sam's birthday next weekend.  Luckily we can freeze the cake and still eat it later.

Right now, my little guy has stopped vomiting, has been drinking lots of fluids, and playing intermittently with his toys.  He's kept some food down, and I am praying that he continues to improve throughout the night.  I was so sad about the events today, but it also made me realize how lucky I still am.  There are parents out there who lost their child in a senseless shooting, and they will never see their child celebrate another birthday.  I am still lucky that even though Sam got sick today, on his birthday, that there are still other birthdays.  So instead of having a party, we cuddled and hugged all day and I cherish these days more than anything.

After Thanksgiving pictorial.  Enjoying his sucker.

Not feeling well.  In the car after our ER visit 12/29/2012