The curse of pictures day.... and ER take 2

Picture day.... ahhhh picture day. The joys of the curse of picture day. As I have posted before, picture days and I have a love hate relationship. No matter how good Houst is on his nap schedule, no matter how well he is eating, without fail there will be at least one major tantrum on Picture day. I just hope the curse does not last for EVERY picture day of our future- maybe just the first couple years.

Well, on April 23 we went to take new pictures of Houston. It had been a few months and my friend has a 2 1/2 year old who she has only taken in once so I was DETERMINED to get her in to capture her adorable little princess. So we went together.

On the way there I told one of my other friends how wonderful picture day had been. I explained that I felt like the Picture day curse was actually not so bad today. He had taken a pretty good nap, ate most of his food, and was rather pleasant (although he was kind of zoned out thus I knew the pictures would be easy to choose the 1 favorite for my free 8 x 10 so I wasn't TOO upset).

We got there, put on his brand new outfit, and took our pictures. Again, not his most photogenic since it was a bit too close from wake up from naptime and he has picked up a fake smile. The photographer would tickle his nose with a doll and then move away so his nose looks like he's about to sneeze (ie, look at the bottom middle picture. It looks like the face my dad makes when he quivers one side of his nose and mouth up to jokingly gnarl at you.... siblings... back me up here!).
Either way I think they turned out cute enough and are again proof that my boy is no longer a baby. Some of these look like pre-school photos or something.

Well it was time for me to look at the computer to decide which to purchase and BAM! Houst took a dive on the floor right between the Customer Service and Portrait Studio at JCPenney. He's a tough kid so I expected him to jump right back up. He was a little slow this time and out came the big cries. I looked into his pouty screaming lips to see his mouth filling up with blood.

I assumed it was a bit tongue but upon further investigation and help from my wonderful friend Amy icing his mouth with him, we found it was his little skin flap that attaches your gums to your upper lip. There was also a little bit of a bloody nose.

I stuck around for the first part of my friends photo shoot then thought I would quickly run to the ER a block down to get Houst checked out. I decided after the last breezy ER trip that while we have such awesome insurance with this first child, why not be SURE any time I have questions and call our pediatrician or take him to the ER if I am ever in doubt.

So I headed to the ER. When I got there I called my insurance just to make sure on how much ER visits cost. The rude lady told me it was going to be $100 which was more I wanted to pay for something I was 90% sure the dr was going to say, "we can't do anything" for. So we left the ER (even though we were next in order) and I headed to find an urgent care. We got to an urgent care and were 4th in line with only 1 dr on duty. great.

I was so sure that the rude lady from the phone was wrong that I called again and sure enough SHE WAS so we COULD HAVE STAYED at the ER and been done by now. So I tried to decide if we should stay and wait this out or go back to the ER. I am sitting there about to boil over with frustration when I hear the 2 receptionists and 6 other people waiting all start laughing. I look up to find Houston dancing in the middle of his audience with his cool moves. He has somehow learned to slowly go down in the splits while pumping his fingers back and forth. My sister Tiffany appropriately compared it to Chandler Bing at his wedding.


My point is that even though I was looking at it as the curse of Picture Day and the blood stains on his new outfit, Houst looked at it as an opportunity to meet new people. He went around meeting everyone, investigating items in their purses, dancing with the other kids in the waiting area, and my favorite, playing peek-a-boo with the receptionists. I am so lucky to have this little man in my life to remind me that even when you think life is being a pickle- you can still enjoy it.

It ends up he did rip that little skin flap in your gums really well but they don't stitch it because it heals fine without. The top left picture shows how puffy his lips were for the next day or so. They were like perma-botox.
We finally got home and you could tell Houst was in a lot of pain. He was real squirmy and whiny. Michael gave him a blessing and the second he put his hands on his head, Houst went silent and still. It was so neat to feel that strong spirit in our home and to see the Priesthood in action. Thank you husband for being worthy to give him that blessing and thank you Houst for being such a special spirit to all you meet. I love you both so much! So to the many more memories we will have together- whether it is at the ER or conquering the curse of picture day- I look forward to facing them with you two boys!

Oh and thanks Rach and Amy for your help!!!