Two Trips to Phoenix

It takes about 30 minutes to get to Phoenix from my house.

This morning, I loaded up Asher and Fin and took them to visit Emily, my dear friend. We had a great time talking, encouraging our Ashers (yes, we both have sons named Asher) to share trains, and planning our feminist retreat for next March. We finished our visit with a trip to McDonald's, where Emily's ward had a playgroup. She introduced me to her ward friends and explained that I lived in Gilbert. One friend asked how we met. We looked at each other with a bit of amusement and embarrassment as Emily enunciated, "We met on the internet."
Wow, that was funny. I guess I don't say that very often. But, it's true.
So, that was the morning, fun and a little embarrassing (I showed up early and I forgot my wallet, so Emily bought us lunch). But, we had such a great time, it totally made up for my chagrin.

So, you're asking yourself how I could possibly have another trip to Phoenix in the same day?
Here you go:
Jaxon's teacher calls and leaves me a message that Jaxon is very lethargic, falling asleep on his desk in the afternoon.
Thirty minutes later, Jaxon stumbles off the school bus and the girl behind him tells me that he fell asleep on the bus. He walks into the house, throws his backpack on the floor and collapses on the futon (the closest piece of furniture). So, I think, "He had a late night and woke up early. He's just tired."
But then, 45 minutes later when I take him to the car so we can go to grandma's for swimming and dinner, he seems hot, and non-responsive. Immediately, I start to think of his last port infection, and how similar his symptoms are.
A few phone calls and 12 minutes later, we're at my mom's house. I don't even wait for her to use her too-slow glass thermometer to get an accurate temperature. He's too hot, he's too lethargic. I call our nurse/friend/mother of a hemophiliac, Lori (aka Doctor Lori) and she tells me to bring him in. And, she says, if he gets worse on the way, pull over and call 911.
So, Jaxon and I take off, and on the way, he starts to wake up a little. By the time we get there, he's alert, mostly himself and that's good, because there's no parking anywhere near PCH emergency department. We got a spot on the 3rd floor of the parking garage and made our way to the entrance.
The benefits of having hemophilia are that they'll call ahead to the ED and reserve you a room.
It's like having frequent flyer miles :)
So, Jaxon looks pretty good, his fever's not that high. He's STARVING, though, and asks every single person who walks in the room, "Where's my dinner?" And we take that as a good sign.
After they draw blood and give him an antibiotic (and dinner), they send us home.
That whole event only took 3 hours.


So, that was 2 hours in the car today. Quite an eventful day, actually.

Always Crack Your Windows!

We had a scary experience today.
After a quick trip to Walmart with Ash and Fin (yes, I do now shop at Walmart) I dumped the stuff in the car and wheeled the kids down to a furniture store to look for bar stools and waste a few minutes before I had to pick up Jaxon from day camp.
When I came back 10 or 15 minutes later, I noticed the sliding passenger door on my mini-van was still open (gasp!) and the people next to me were loading in their groceries. Well, that was stupid, I forgot to shut the door with my key when I left.
So, I loaded Asher into his carseat, buckled him, tossed in my purse, shut the door and went around the van to put Finley into his seat. Unfortunately his side was locked. So, I went back around to Asher's door, which was also locked. (I had locked the car without shutting the door before I went to the furniture store)
"No way!," I thought. I've never done this before and it's 103 degrees outside.
Asher was already crying about something else, so I just went as fast as I could into Walmart and asked for help. The nice old lady told me she would get security to help me. I asked for a hanger because my windows were cracked and I thought I could pull the lock up. They didn't have a hanger, but I saw a feather duster with medium length handle (not long like a broom). I ran back out to the car and shoved the straight end into the 2 inch gap of my windows and realized I couldn't hook it over the lock to pull it up.
But, I did see the lock switch and I managed to get the handle over there to push the switch up, unlocking all doors at once.
Hooray!
Asher was hot and sweaty. He was still fussy, but I gave him his water and turned on the A/C.
By this time, an onlooker was glad to see me get the car open and said to his 2 year old daugher, "I'm going to teach you how to unlock the car." It's a good idea, especially if they're not buckled in.
As I was leaving, the old lady and security guard were walking through the parking lot looking for me.
I honked, stopped, got out, and gave them back the duster with a big thanks.
Then they informed me that the fire trucks were on their way. "Really?" I asked.
Yes, because they don't waste any time when a child is locked in the car.

Whew, it was a little scary, and I will remember to always keep my keys with me until I sit down and start the car.
A little blessing and a reminder to always keep the windows cracked.