Re-Entry is Brutal and Bittersweet

This past week I have been gone from home. Last Monday we (my mom, my 3 yr old, and my 9 month old)  set out on an adventure. Our first stop was St. Louis at my sisters house. We were there until Wednesday. We left River with her and her family and my mother, Harrison, and I set out for Nashville to Blissdom! It was my first blog conference. It was amazing. It was energizing, it was tiring, it was smiling so much your cheeks hurt, walking so much your feet hurt, going so long your body throbs when you lay down at night...but in that "feels good because today was awesome kind of aching). It was full of sparkes, sequins, smiles, pretty hair, hugs, feel good sessions, knock you between the eyes sessions, want to cry the ugly cry sessions.

It was, all in all....an emotional roller-coaster. On that coaster...we hit an extreme low on Saturday night. The first night we arrived...Harrison started to get a cough. By Saturday night he was burning up and I was in search of some meds to help reduce his fever and get us through until we could get on the road to home. I started sending tweets to my fellow Blissdom attendees to search for some childrens Tylenol. I found someone...but was also made aware that there was a recent Tylenol recall. I was put into contact with a Dr who blogs. www.AskDrG.com we were making arrangements for her to come to our room to check him over and give her advice on the recall. I was also getting ready for our last event of the conference. Harrison was playing at my feet. I walked away from the bathroom area long enough to grab my phone so that I could tweet my room number. And then it happened...

That scream. That blood curdling scream that made my mom and I stop dead in our tracks...and then I remembered...MY CURLING IRON! In that 30 seconds I walked away...Harrison grabbed the cord to my curling iron and pulled it down. He grabbed onto the barrel of the iron with his entire left hand. The screams. The horror. The guilt. The blame. I will never ever forget. The panic set in. We scooped him up, checked him over, stripped him down and got his hand into cold water immediately. Less than 2 minutes into this ordeal and another blogger, a nurse and her friend...happened to be walking by our room. I quickly brought them in. The nurse helped with Harrison, who my mom was holding, the friend took me out to the hallway where I crumbled. I then grabbed my phone once more and told the dr that things had just gotten worse and I needed her quickly. She was there in an instant. It was confirmed by both that the burns were 2nd degree. They stated that there was nothing a hospital would be able to do for him and that the best thing for him was the cold water that we were putting his hand in. Harrison learned pretty quickly that the ice bucket full of cool but not cold water felt really good. My mother held him laying over her lap with his hand in the bucket for 2 to 3 hours until he finally slept.

After talking to my husband on the phone he urged me to go ahead and attend the evening festivities. I went...I felt guilt...I did have some good girl time...and thankfully some really good laughs at Chris Ann's expense....ahem...Kristen you really need to keep a closer eye on her. I sang karaoke (on the same stage that Rascal Flatts and Joe Jonas had just sang on the night before...wow!). I then went back to the room early...where I held my baby all night. He didn't cry, but he rolled around and wanted to lay on my chest and nurse all night long.

The next morning we set out for home. First stopping back in St Louis to pick up my home sick 3 year old. Twelve hours later I was back in the safety of my home.

Right now...I am feeling overwhelmed and tired. I want to blog...but this is really all I can think about. Harrison was really sick by the time we got home. Went to the dr Monday, he has double ear infection, respiratory crud, snotty nose, high fevers...and of course 2nd degree burns on his sweet precious innocent pure little hand. My 3 year old is begging for my attention since I really haven't seen much of him for over 2 weeks. My teenager is highly hormonal and argumentative these days...and my husband has been stressed resulting in us arguing quite often. Harrison, who refused anything but breastmilk from the breast until 8 months old...refused to take his meds and by Tuesday he was still at 103 temp. I took him to the dr again, a different dr this time, who gave him a shot of antibiotic and a different scrip. We only have to hold him down once a day now for the next 10 days to give him his meds. And these meds will help with his sickness and help combat the swelling and any potential infections in his hand. The blisters on his little fingers are HUGE and on the edge of popping soon. We are keeping his hand wrapped with prescription burn cream on his fingers.

I don't want to be known as negative nelly or depressing...etc and that is all my status updates seem to be currently. So allllllllll of this to say. I am taking a break. I am not going to be blogging, tweeting, or Facebooking for 1 solid week. I will not be back until Tuesday of next week. I need to nurse my baby back to health. I need to play dinosaurs with my 3 year old. I need to speak encouraging words to my teenager. I need to bring comfort and a clean house to my husband so that he can focus on his work which supports our family.

I hope to not forget everything good about my Blissdom experience in the next week...so that I can come back and share in a week. I have found inspiration for new paths for this blog and my life in general. I will leave you with this one picture:

Yep, that is me with Rascal Flatts...and some other amazing women that I met at Blissdom. I really can't wait to dish you the details. I have to follow my gut and attend to my home first though.

I love all of my readers and appreciate your encouragement...and would truly be thankful for any prayers while I take a week or restoration with my family.