Birthday week - Part 4. Colin's party!

Here's a recap of our week:

Wednesday: My birthday, complete with new hair cut!
Thursday: Thanksgiving. Colin gets sick, Thanksgiving gets ruined (not really, I just thought it was a funny line!)
Friday: Colin's first birthday. He is still sick and not amused by any type of birthday celebration.

On Saturday the 26th, we were having about 30 people over for his party. Mark and I went back and forth about whether to cancel the party or not. The night before, we decided that if he still had a fever in the morning, we would cancel the party. Luckily around 3 AM, his fever broke. Hallelujah!

Around 11:30, I gave Colin a final dose of Tylenol and put him down for a nap, hoping he would finally get some much needed rest. He woke up about an hour later sc.re.am.ing. He wasn't just upset, he was completely pissed off! I looked at Mark and said "We've got to cancel the party. We can't have everyone over with him acting this way". Turns out, the kid was just hungry. He ate a big lunch and was, once again, my sweet baby boy. So we finished the party prep, got him dressed and waited for all the guests to arrive!

The party was so amazing. We had a house full of people who loving came to help our boy celebrate his first year of life. What more can you ask for?!

CAKE!

The banner I made

The guest book. Everyone wrote him a special message :)

Picture collage.

Playing with his cousins

Smash cake :)

All his presents. Lucky boy!

Birthday Week - Part 3. Colin's FIRST Birthday!

Colin's first birthday fell on the day after Thanksgiving. And if you'll remember, my last post about Thanksgiving left off with Colin waking up at 11:30 PM.

He only slept on and off for the rest of the night. His fever stayed steady at around 103 without medicine and 101 with medicine. He just genuinely did not feel well. I kept telling him all day how sorry I was that he had to spent his first birthday sick and promising him that next year will be better. I am so glad he won't remember this birthday. I thought about "erasing" his sickness from all of our stories but in the end, he deserves to know what his birthday was like.

Mark and I had plans to finish our Christmas shopping, seeing as how it was Black Friday. But it was kind of nice to just stay home in our P.J.'s and cuddle. The fever finally started to break around 4 that afternoon, so we decided to salvage the day and try to get some Black Friday deals. Colin was tolerable of our shopping, as long as he was being held. We made it through Target in record time!

Once we got home we decided since Colin hadn't slept much that day, an early dinner and bed time was just what he needed. The boy loves grilled cheese sandwiches so that's what we had for dinner. I made chicken noodle soup, too because who doesn't like chicken noodle soup when they're sick? Apparently, Colin doesn't. He wouldn't eat anything except apple sauce :( After dinner, we tried giving him a birthday cupcake, which he also wanted no part of. He cried the entire time.

Here's us trying to show him what he's supposed to do! Notice the expression on his face. He. Was. Not. Amused.

So after a failed attempt at a birthday dinner and dessert, we gave Colin a cool bath (something we realized we should have done much sooner) and sat him down in the recliner with Mark. While they attempted to get some rest, I hurried to get the house set up for Colin's party the next day...which was on the verge of getting cancelled!

Birthday week - Part 2. Thanksgiving!

My birthday was on November 23rd, which means the very next day was Thanksgiving!

Mark and I planned out the perfect day. We timed our meals perfectly to make sure Colin would be able to get in his two naps. We started with lunch with my side of the family at my brother and sister-in-law's house. I noticed pretty much right away that Colin felt warm and he just seemed to not be himself. He's always clingy and wants me to hold him when we are around people he doesn't see every day but he was extra clingy on Thanksgiving. As the afternoon went on, he got more and more cranky. Of course I remembered on the way home that we had no medicine what-so-ever (isn't that how it always is!). Thank goodness Wal-Greens was open! We rushed to get Colin home, medicated and in bed for his afternoon nap. The whole time he was asleep I was praying he wasn't getting sick and it was just a one-off thing.

Once he was up, we were out the door and headed to Mark's parents house for dinner with his family. This is where the day really went down hill. The minute we sat down for dinner, Colin started sc.re.am.ing. He screamed pretty much all through dinner. I ate quicker than I ever have and got him to eat a little. During dessert he just wanted to be held and cuddled by me and me only. I'm sure that broke his grandparents heart because all they want to do is hold him and love up on him but he just wasn't having it. I forgot to grab the thermometer when we left home but I would guess that by this time, his fever was at least 101. I gave him some more medicine and tried to get him to calm down. None of my tricks were working so we cut the evening short and took our sick boy home :(

We got him in bed relatively easily but about 11:30 PM he woke up and was burning up. He had a fever of almost 105. To say I panicked is an understatement. I started freaking out, trying to decide if we should take him to the ER or not. Back in April, Colin had a super high fever and of course, we rushed him the ER. I remember the nurse acting like it was no big deal and she said "A fever is a good sign. It means his little body is fighting off the illness". This time, while yes I was panicking, I kept telling myself that he had no other symptoms, except a runny nose, and this probably wasn't a sickness worthy of going to the ER. So I read some articles online and everything said to wait 3 days and take him to the doctor if the fever isn't gone or if he developed other symptoms. Mark and I made a deal that if his fever wasn't gone by Saturday morning, we were canceling his birthday party and taking him to the doctor.

So I spent the rest of the night in the rocking chair with him, trying to get him to sleep so he could get better.

Even though we didn't have an ideal Thanksgiving, we are still very happy and thankful that we got to spend time with everyone who means so much to us.

Next up, Colin's first birthday!

Birthday week - Part 1. My birthday!

Because Colin was born 2 days after my birthday, we get to share a Birthday Week. That's right...in the Testa household, everyone gets an entire week for their birthday! Really, we just start saying "Birthday week" on the Sunday before their birthday then once their birthday is past, the week is over.
Anyway...on to my birthday! I don't say it often enough but I have a very generous husband. All month he worried about my birthday being forgotten with the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving, Colin's birthday and Colin's party. So he planned and saved and surprised me with a hair cut, brow wax, lunch and shopping spree! It was amazing. I keep telling him "Thank You!" He really listened to my complaints and was spot on with his presents, ha ha!

After cutting 5 inches off my hair. Please excuse my lack of make-up and Colin's tears. More on them later!

The rest of my day was pretty low key. After my afternoon of "me" time, I had to get back to my domesticated life, complete with grocery shopping and cleaning the house :)

Coming up, Thanksgiving!