Then the saddest thing happened . . . Well – to be completely honest – it isn’t really the saddest thing ever . . . but it is a real distinction of a passage of time that seems to be moving ahead at a rocket’s pace. Our tiniest of crew members has started being shipped off four days a week to the dreaded land knows only as daycare. And even with all of the deepest pits in my tiny bird-like stomach getting deeper and deeper the closer that the initial drop-off came – I have to say that the boy seems to really be enjoying the process . . . a lot.

Almost 11 months – or so – ago, a bunch of applications were filled out and contact numbers were called. While the situation of getting to hang out with the tiny all of the time was an appealing prospect, the super amount of stress of not being able to work or sleep or work or make money or take business calls or have a tenth of a brain to be able to make things made the whole thing daunting.

A quick side-note. What a grand world it would be if we could just hang out at home with the wifey and the doggie and the baby – in our headquarters that was more than a handful of rooms big . . . where there was an ounce of extra inches to have a work space and a fun space – instead of having it all jumbled on top of each other. Wow! That was kind of close to griping – really though – it was just a Bumpercar having a dream – and is that really such a bad thing at all?! I didn’t think so.

Back to the boy.

Now – how could this happen? Why couldn’t Socks step up – or maybe Robot could have done something? Why in the world – with a Headquarters full of helpers couldn’t someone have stepped up to keep this from happening?!

Jeez. Relax. It is a great thing. He loves it a lot. A whole lot. And, it is so good for him to be around other small people – picking up their tricks and their germs and whatnot – but that is a story for a different day. Do I sound like I’m trying to convince myself? Maybe a little bit . . . I miss having the screams and the giggles around the house – but – it is good. Look at me – getting to write something again – how fun is that!?

On with the story.

The place is nice enough. There are rooms with other small people doing things that small people seem to enjoy doing. My boss took a trip out and gave the place a stern once over, reviews were read online and things seemed to be all in order. I then went in to meet people and take my own look around – under the guise of dropping off some papers – and a registration check – yeouch – money – money – money! It passed my tests as well – and so – things were set into motion. The boy would be joining the fold of the small people who do things that other small people seem to enjoy doing . . . and he would be the best at that activity that there ever was (unless you have ever had a tiny – and then from your perspective – the judges will accept that we came in second best – – not third, though. If you have multiple children – then we are going to have to give you first place and then third and up from there. We get second – or – we take our ball and leave the court.).

The first day, we got there 1/2 hour late because packing and rushing and trying to get someplace at a designated time is next to impossible at this point. We were only there for an hour – and it was snack time. There was a tiny table and each child got a cracker. Maybe it was a Ritz. I had to go to the office to fill out a bunch more paperwork. If you know me at all – then you know how much I absolutely love filling out paperwork – except not really. In the office, there was a video camera where I could sit and watch everything that was going on . . . that mostly consisted of what I have already mentioned – – small people doing things that small people seem to enjoy doing. I should mention that there was nary a whimper or even a glance over his shoulder when I left the room. That was bittersweet. While I didn’t want him to cry – and he hasn’t figured out how to wave yet – maybe he could have blinked once to acknowledge what was going on – or something . . . The hour was up. We got into our jalopy and zipped back to Headquarters.

The next day was the hour where I was to drop him off and go about my merry way . . . for an hour. I did my part with the dropping, he did his part with the not looking back and off I went to get a pedicure – again – that is a story for another day. I went and picked him up from his playing and we headed home. The initial two days had been a swimming success!

The rest of the week went well. We got better at mobilizing and getting all of everything that is needed on a daily basis all packed up. And things around the house slowly started to get less undone and moderately more done. The drop-offs weren’t difficult at all – as there was still no recognition that a drop-off was even occurring. The world was shaping up to be a nice little place. All of the fears were for naught – right?! Well – maybe . . . I’m only taking you up to the end of week number 1 at this point . . . who knows what monsters lie in wait in week number 2?! Only the Jabberwocky . . . Only the Jabberwocky knows.

Howdy all.

This is a quick follow-up to the mountain of stress that was last night. It will hopefully put your minds at ease – and make you feel a touch better about where things were left off in my last little report.

dotorAs I think I put at the end of my last note – the baby is back to being a baby who loves to breathe. I sat up with him until this morning – and then there was a shift change – and the next crew came in to make sure that the situation was going smoothly.We then all went to the doctor’s office – where we were met with randomly oscillating waves of “the baby is fine” and “you should have taken him to the emergency room immediately.” That was perfect  – just what our brains needed – confusion, guilt and more stress!

horseLastly – we went to a children’s hospital (which I tried to amuse myself by calling a ‘horse-pi-tal’ – cough – yep!) – and saw a gastroenterologist who was tremendously nice – and answered all of our questions (with none of the guilt!) and checked J-em from head to toe. She determined that he was a “thriving baby” – which is a great way to describe a baby – and that  as healthy as he was – that it was just a random freak occurrence  that possibly some mucus had gotten stuck in his throat – and that while we should – obviously – keep an eye on him . . . Basically – he didn’t break – he was no worse for the wear – we had done good by him – and the world was a decent place to be.

It was a good way to wrap up the day. The long – long day. At the end . . . the baby was fine – we were exhausted – and now all we have to do is figure out how to get some sleep – with all of the miserable of last night floating around. All in all – a definite win for the home team!

winI got asked why I wrote about the whole thing . . . Why would I put it out there . . . What was the point? Pretty simple – actually – I didn’t want to have it all jumbling up in my head – and it makes me feel better to write stuff down – or draw silly pictures – or make cartoons – or – or – or whatever. So – that is what I did – and I’m totally totally glad that I did. Did. Did. Did.

Thanks a bunch for all of your well wishes . . .

Everybody – remember to keep breathing.

Toodles,

N.Numpercar

Last night – while deeply sleeping in some deep-deep sleep . . . A jostling of the bed was followed by the urgent cry that “THE BABY’S NOT BREATHING!”

Terror – terror – terror.

Everyone jumped out of bed – the baby  – whose eyes were starting to roll back in his head – was grabbed, flipped so that his face was in my hand, then – in that position – angled so that he was facing kind-of towards the ground and then was hit a few times in the back to try to dislodge whatever was keeping him from breathing. The dog ran into his cage – and 911 was called.

We had taken baby CPR – and I was trying to stay calm and go through all of the steps that we had been taught – but  it was difficult – in the heat of the actual moment. Everything was all very intense and fast . . . lightning fast.

Within a handful of seconds – thankfully  – gurgles of bubbles were coming out of his mouth and his breathing – even though it was labored – started up.

The image of his confused little face trying to figure out what was going on – while I was still working on him is stuck with me. It makes my stomach hurt.

breathe_1Almost instantly – right after he had started breathing – the police and the ambulance arrived and I ran downstairs to grab them. While we were rushing up the walkway to the house there was a quick flurry of questions so that they could get caught up on the situation. It was about 1:30 a.m. and there were about 5 new people in the apartment – in our bedroom. The dog barked from his cage.

After a thorough checking out and a bunch of other questions, it was determined that it was probably just some mucus that got caught and that we could go to the hospital or just keep an eye on him for the rest of the night. He had stabilized, his color had come back and he was cooing and giggling – so – we decided to just go in the morning.

breathe_2Some paperwork was filled out, some hands were shaken and then – there we were – a dog, a baby and an extremely frazzled mom and dad . . . left to wonder how we – and I’m not counting the dog or the baby here – would ever be able to sleep again – without an underlying nervousness.

I can’t even begin to say how amazed I was at how quickly help arrived . . . and how great they were. It is very reassuring to know that in such a critical moment – that help can appear so quickly and work to make everything better.

Thanks to Montclair’s bestest for being the best.

Thanks to Emerson for starting to breath again.

Deep breaths everyone . . . Baby Emerson is breathing again.

breathe_4

I have been meaning to do this – but have been busy changing diapers and day dreaming about night sleeping.

So . . . Here is the info – that you need in the world – about this – at least. I have a baby – he was born on Thursday, September 24 at 9:01 am – at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan – after a 12 hour labor – he weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces – was 21 1/2 inches long – and is pretty awesome!

His name is J. Emerson Bumpercar . . . and the “J.”?! It is really just the letter “J” – So – how fun is that? I wish that I came up with it – but Sharie’s paternal grandfather was also “J Emerson” . . . We just added the “.” – – – – So – – – – You can call him J-dot, Emerson, Emer, J-Em, Jemerson, Baby-J – or Nugget . . . Sometimes I call him Nugget. On second thought – you aren’t allowed to call him “Nugget” – that’s mine.

There will be stories about him – and about the new world that he has given me ticketed access to. I hope that they will be met with your approval . . . If not – then – there are always penguins to check out – right?!

If you ever want to see more photos of him – go ahead and click this link – – – soon – – – I will have a little picture thingee-doodle on the side of the page – to make it easier to get to them there photos.

Hooray Emerson!
emerson

Hi there website . . . I see you – over there – looking at me . . . all hang-dog expression – all sad – because you think that I have run away and forgotten all about you.

Well – buck up camper . . . You see – there was this teeny tiny baby born – and so there had been a bit of transitioning going on – but that is all going super well – and so – I swears that I’ll be back writing silly stuff and putting pictures of the things up really – really soon. Look at it this way . . . the baby is definitely going to give me all kinds of new stuff to write about – right?!

I guess that it could be debated – that in writing this post – that I am actually fulfilling some of my website duties . . . But look at me being all logical – sorry about that.

Oop! That baby is making some funny noises – so I have to run – but I will be all kinds of back really really soon.

Seriously – I swears!