I'm a bit of an emotional wreck this morning. I thought I was doing really well until I started reading blogs and found out that everything is making me cry.

Last night the family went to my sister's house for a soup and salad night.
On the menu were three different types of soup, salad, and rolls (provided by yours truly via the grocery store). We were having a good time. We finished cooking, laughed lots, and gathered the family for dinner. Everyone was seated and we had a prayer. Faramir had not yet come to my sister's house because he was working.

Pablo and Tyrone were sitting at a child-sized table with my niece, Woof-Woof. Pablo was very angry about being forced to sit there because all of the bigger kids were at a bigger table and Pablo wanted to sit with them, so he started crying. (Pablo is 6)

After prayer I asked my kids what kind of soup they wanted and Seth and Tyrone asked for Chicken Noodle soup. Pablo was so upset that he wouldn't make any such decision. So I left him alone and went to ladle up soup for Seth and Tyrone. I gave Seth his bowl (he was on the big table) and went over to the small table to give Tyrone his.

As I leaned over to place Seth's bowl on the table, Pablo stood up and knocked the soup out of my hand.

Just so you understand, the stove was still on and the Chicken Noodle had just barely hit the done point. It was near boiling hot.

It spilled all over Pablo and Tyrone.

Someone grabbed Pablo and carried him away, telling him all the while to stop fighting. I grabbed Tyrone because he was screaming as well. (There were a few other kids screaming by that point because they were frightened.)

I took Tyrone in the kitchen and immediately ran his hands (which seemed to be bothering him most) under the kitchen sink. Then we sat him down, peeled off his jacket, and stuck ice on him. He had a few small spots on his legs that were bothering him, but generally it was just the kind of burn that we get frequently. Painful, but not bad. In about an hour he was up and running around and fine. He has not complained since.

Pablo was a completely different story. He got the worst of it. I didn't even realize it for a few minutes because I was so focused in on Tyrone. I knew Pablo was in good hands.

A few minutes after I took Tyrone in the kitchen and got him relatively calmed, another sibling of mine came to me and told me that I needed to go be with Pablo. I asked Kendra to come be by Tyrone and went to Pablo.

They had literally had to take off his shirt by force, and when the shirt came off, a layer of skin-in about a 3 inch patch on his upper arm came off with it. He has a second degree burn on his arm. We watered it. We iced it. It didn't blister (other than the top layer of skin) or blacken. He screamed for a good long time.

I went to him, and watched as my siblings worked around to get the burn taken care of. There were two there who work in various medical related professions. My job became to try and comfort and soothe while my siblings did their work. Eventually they got some burn cream on his arm and got it all bandaged up. We filled him full of pain-killer Then we iced and iced.

At some point here, my father gave Pablo a blessing, that he could be calm, that the pain would be lessened and that he would heal quickly.

I tried to get Pablo calmed down. I ended up reading children's book after children's book to help him be able to concentrate on something besides the pain on his arm and how much he hated the ice packs. Faramir came in about 1/2 hour after it happened and sat with us. He brought Tyrone in and we all read stories together. Woof-Woof eventually joined us for reading time.

About 1/2 hour after that Tyrone was ready to eat dinner. Faramir took him in so they could eat. I read more books.

At some later point dessert was served in the other room. We had forced Orange Juice down Pablo to help against dehydration. Various people had tried to get him to eat, but that wasn't happening. But about the time the ice cream came out of the maker, Pablo was calmed enough and the painkiller was working enough that he was ready to eat ice cream.

So he and I went to the table. He had a bowl of ice cream and then was ready to start joining in with the other kids. He wasn't up and running around, but Faramir carried him downstairs to where the other boys were playing the wii and he was able to relax.

And I was able to eat and cry.

I had a bowl of luke-warm chicken noodle soup--which was delicious. I also had two or three rolls. Then a bowl of pumpkin pie and ice cream.

I cried. I shook. I combated a mild panic attack that came on once the worst was over.

After I finished eating and crying, I chased my nephew around and around so I could work off some of the stress.

We came home. Pablo slept through the night--something I did not expect. We cleaned the wound and re-bandaged him this morning. He is doing phenomenally well.

I'm still a little freaked out by the whole experience.

Blessings:
1-The Pablo had a long sleeved shirt on. I'm pretty sure that had he been in a short sleeved shirt we would have been making a trip to the ER. I think the clothing afforded him some protection.
2-On the same vein, Tyrone had his jacket on still. I truly believe he possibly would have been hurt even worse than Pablo, but the jacket protected him.
3-I was with my family. If I had been by myself, I have no idea what I would have done. As it was, I was with several people who have a much better knowledge of that kind of stuff than I. It also made it so that I could focus on one child at a time whilst knowing the other was well taken care of.
4-The power of God is real in our lives. My father's blessing has proven true. I checked in on Pablo a little later in the evening, and he was playing the wii one handed with one of his cousins. His cousin was operating the wii remote and Pablo was operating the nun chuck (sp?). He eventually ate some rolls and has done really, really well. Again, he slept through the night--a miracle in my opinion. We re-cleaned and bandaged him this morning and while it was painful, he has not complained about it since. God has blessed us--especially Pablo.

Now I have to figure out whether to go through with his tonsillectomy next week . . .

(Disclaimer--all times are my approximation. It seems that in life episodes like this time gets very skewed. Don't take any of my times as factual.)