Evan's Birthday

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today is Evan's 4th birthday. I can't believe it was 4 years ago that we went into the hospital and Rachel was induced.

The day began very early this morning with some, um, excitement. I woke up around 3:30am to see Evan staring at me. I immediately knew this was different and something was wrong. I asked him if he was ok. He shook his head no. I heard his breathing and it sounded like there was a "buzzing" as he was breathing. I asked him if he could breathe and he shook his head no. I asked him if he had swallowed anything and he shook his head no. I asked if he could talk and he shook his head no. At this point I had picked him up and put him on the bed and I was starting to hit him in the back. Then he started to cough. It was a really awful-sounding cough almost like a bark or like a seal. This seemed to loosen things up a bit but he started to cry. Rachel called the nurse's line and we began waiting for someone to call us back. We decided to take him to the hospital and we got dressed. I woke Grandmom up to let her know what was going on. As we were about to leave, the phone rang. I explained what was going on to the nurse and she said that it sounded like croup and to have him put his head in the freezer for 10 minutes and then go into the bathroom with a shower own and steaming. Towards the end of the freezer, he started to be able to talk and by the end of the shower he was hyper and feeling good. He even told me that he was going to tell his friend Cayden at school that he was coughing. He stayed in bed with us the rest of the night, but he's shown no symptoms since.

On very little sleep I went to work and Evan stayed asleep in bed. Around 11am, Rachel, Grandmom, Evan and Noah went to Walmart and Grandmom got Evan and Noah "How to Train Your Dragon" toys. Then they came and picked me up and we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. There was only two other kids there. Evan and Noah had a blast. They played some and then we watched the "show". Then we played some more. Afterwards, the boys turned in their tickets and Grandmom added money and bought them both Chuck E. Cheese dolls. They were very happy. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't point out that walking in there a bird pooped on me. I would have left that part out but Rachel would complain if I didn't put it in. It's especially funny as I was recalling, just yesterday, how a bird pooped on my Aunt Edie when we were at the Ocean City Boardwalk when I was 11 and how funny that was.

Everyone came home and Noah went down for a nap. Rachel took Grandmom to the airport. It was a very nice visit having Grandmom here and the boys really took to her.

I came home from work, picked up the boys and we went to sports class. Rachel met us there. After sports class, they gave Evan a balloon for his birthday. Then we went to McDonald's (again) because that's where Evan wanted to go. The boys both ate pretty well and then had ice cream cones for dessert. We let them play on the playground for a few minutes and then came home.

They are in bed now. Let's hope tonight has less excitement.

Until next time...