Joshua's Birthday -- Take Two!!

Joshua's First Birthday Party!

You should remember we had a delightful party for Josh's first birthday while Grandma and Grandpa Green were here. We also wanted to throw a party with friends for him. The date of Oct. 6 was set so that all the families would be back from school break. Invites were sent out before we realized that that was conference weekend! We had the party time of 4:00 and the Priesthood session started at 5:00 (PDT). So, instead of a night filled with games and activities we decided pretty much on just cake and ice cream so the men could leave when they need to in order to get to the session.

We decided on a monkey theme. Mostly because monkey's are just plain cool. Secondly because we saw a picture of a monkey cake in a magazine which got my wife's brain-wheels a spinning. Once those start spinning you best look out! We did light decoration with a wonderful banner, a delicious monkey cake and bananas all over the place.

Isn't that the cutest monkey cake you've ever seen? Our first round of cake didn't work out so well. We ended up staying up until 2:30 a.m. the night before trying to finish this cake.

Pre-party. You can kind of see my banner in this one.

Singing to Joshua again.

This seems oddly familiar. Joshy just wasn't as into it as he was at the other party.

Still lip-smacking good, though.

The Quazy Quad we call them. Counterclockwise: Ethan, Gwen, Liza, Jessica
A picture of the group.

I liked Joshua in this picture. This was while opening presents. We had each kid give Joshua their respective gifts and help him open them. Liza wasn't very happy that day, for some reason and when other kids came to help her help Joshua she became even more upset. Poor girl. The kids ended up loving the bananas set out. Good idea eh?This isn't the first time we've caught Ethan in a compromising situation with his female friends. Once when Gwen and her family was over at our house we had noticed the children being remarkably quiet in the other room. Assuming they were in the bedroom playing we went to see. We found both Gwen and Ethan stark naked in the bathroom! I think they were preparing for a bath together. We all had a good laugh at that one. The above and below pictured event was a similar situation. The kids seemed uncharacteristically quiet. When investigated, we found them playing cutely in my bed.
Good times!

Well, cake and ice cream was eaten. The kids played, and the grown-ups visited enthusiastically. The time soon came for the men to leave for the Priesthood session of conference. I left and took Brad Hill with me to the Stake Center. We were a couple of minutes late, but were there in plenty of time to hear the first speaker begin. I enjoyed the session immensely. So much so, I began texting friends and families with a few key concepts mentioned in some of the talks. I enjoyed their replies. One time, my phone began to ring (it was on vibrate, of course). I looked down and saw Challene's name on it. "Probably just wants me to take Brad back to his house or something, " I rationalized easily given that Brad's wife was to meet him at the Stake Center to give him a ride home after the session. Not seconds after that I got a rather humorous response to one of my texts from a friend. I pocketed my phone only to feel it vibrate again. Four quick times, indicating a text message. "Oh, it's John again", I thought, "I'll look at it after this talk." President Hinckley was giving a great talk about anger. Seconds after, my phone began ringing again. I looked down and saw Challene's name. I stood to leave to the foyer and checked the previous text as I did so. It was not from John, but was from Challene. "Call now!" it said. Instantly, my stomach dropped and my mouth went dry. I answered the call only to hear frantic screaming in the back and my wife trying desperately to tell me something. It was difficult to understand her. I began making my way across the Stake Center to leave when I told her I couldn't understand her. "Joshua's hand got smashed in the door. I think it's broken. GET HOME NOW!!!" She said amidst tears, concern, and frustration in trying to get a hold of me. I hung up and ran to the car.

Every possible light I could have hit was red. And had just turned red as I approached. It felt like ages before I arrived at the house. I walked in the door to see that Lindsey (Liza's Mom) was still there. Challene had Josh in her hands. His face was bright red and wet with the many tears that streamed down it. I looked at his hand. What I saw nearly made me sick. His right hand at the third and fourth knuckles was swollen giving the appearance of those two fingers' bones being pushed against and stretching the skin on the back of his hand. The two fingers passed the knuckles were also swollen to the size of two vienna sausages. His hand was bruised with a deep red and purple directly under the knuckles and swelling. He couldn't use his fingers. He couldn't grab my hand or hold onto a toy, though he tried. He kept his hand splayed out as far as possible, though I think that the swelling helped with that. Quickly, I ran through the fracture screen for the hand in my head. I had just aced my "Acute Hand" examination flow not a couple weeks ago. Inability to move the digits... check! Focal, immediate, extreme swelling... check! Focal bruising... check! Traumatic onset... check! Inability, or excruciating pain on trying to grip... check! Anvil test... positive! Vibration... didn't have my tuning forks to check! Obvious evidence of anatomical abnormalities... maybe, though it could just be the swelling! Everything in my head was screaming fracture. I didn't see anyway out of it. Lindsey said she'd stay with Ethan and we rushed out of there.

I had pre-determined to give Joshua a blessing before we left the house, but everything happened so fast we were out into the car before I could comprehend what was going on. I still regret not having the wherewithal to slow things down and give him a blessing immediately. Luckily, I have my wife. Challene, on the verge of breaking down asked if I thought it would be ok to say a prayer as we drove to the Emergency Room. I agreed and she offered one of the most sweet, heartfelt prayers I've ever heard. It seemed almost immediately after the prayer that Joshua settled down for us. He stopped crying and even gave my wife a hint of a smile.

We got to the ER and there was no one ahead of us so we were able to get right in. Just as we were getting ready to get some x-rays (three hand series including an AP, lateral and oblique film, FYI) Joshua seemed to perk right up. He began to be his playful self again. He even by this time he was grabbing at toys, moving his fingers, and playing more and more. X-rays came out negative (which is actually expected for such a recent fracture. Digits don't usually show evidence of fracture radiographically for nearly a week!) and the doctors diagnosed him with a hand contusion. They sent us home. As soon as I saw him using his hand before we went to x-ray I knew it wasn't broken. Joshy told me with his smile. That was more evidence than I needed to know it wasn't broken.

We were most grateful that little Joshy is ok. It was a scare for us. Challene attributed her ability to contact me, get him ready, and us out the door to Lindsey's calm support. Challene did everything right and I couldn't be more proud of her.

The picture below doesn't do his hand any justice at all. This was taken today, nearly 24 hours after the incident. Ethan snuck his hand in over Joshua's other hand so you can't really compare the two. The swelling has dissipated significantly and the bruising has dispersed.

Ethan makes it a habit to close doors using a running start. We assume this is what happened. Joshua was probably trying to keep up with Ethan and Liza who beat him to the bedroom. As soon as Josh got there he grabbed on the hinged side of the door for support and we assume Ethan slammed the door. Challene says the scream was enough to make her want to throw up.

Well, we're planning a big write-up on Mom and Dad's trip up here. Look for that soon!