This will be a long post because it was an incredibly long and painful day for our family. I will ramble because that is where my head is right now. I don’t want to leave out the good stuff, because we tried our best to make the most of a tough week.

It started at 1:16am. I woke up to Trevor crying hard. I went in to get him and he was sitting up in his bed, very upset. For the next three hours, I tried to get him back to sleep, but he was very scared, panicky, and wanting to leave his room. I thought maybe he had a nightmare.
After failing to rock him to sleep, I tried to just walk out and let him cry it out. He raced to his door and opened it and came out in to the hall screaming and woke up Brendan.
I tried everything. He had warm milk, we walked around, I tried to take him in to my bed. He was so wide awake and if I tried to put him down, he would cling to me.
When he finally fell asleep, he would pop right up any time I would try to put him down.
Just before 5am, I finally got him in to his crib.
He woke up at 7:15am, crabby but not like I expected.
Getting him to nap was a battle. He fought and did NOT want to be put in bed. I finally got him to sleep after an hour of trying.
When I sat down and finally checked my email, I had this from the motion alert on his spy cam at 1:16am.

He must have fallen hard and he missed the crash mattress. He was rattled with adrenaline I am sure. Poor kid. If I had known that in the night, maybe my approach could have been different. I have totally reworked the pool noodle barrier to help prevent this again. I am shopping for Trevor’s new larger bed too. I really needed that sleep.

Brendan didn’t do well switching to full formula, so he is still “eating” some diluted formula mixed with pedialyte. We should be able to get him back to normal tomorrow. Bill worked today and is feeling much better.

Brendan tried some cheese puffs. He actually licked one so much that he ended up eating all but a tiny little gooey smudge.

“Was anyone looking?”

This melt down was because he wanted the sunglasses that I pulled out for Trevor.

See? All better.

Maniacal laugh

Trevor spent the afternoon outside sweeping leaves

Finding sticks

Digging trenches

And playing with lawn ornaments

I thought that things were going to be OK. We just needed more rest, but we had it handled.
Then in a blink while we were folding laundry in my bedroom, Trevor fell on the dog. I was two feet away and still am not sure if it was intentional or accidental on Trevor’s part. But Quinn whipped around and snapped and snarled.
I chased Quinn from the room with a fury of foul language and threats and bent down to get Trevor and only then did I realize that Quinn had actually bitten him on his cheek.
I can not describe how painful this is to us, because we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to dog bites, especially where babies are concerned.

Trevor is OK. The bite was not severe and we will make sure to get him treated if there are any signs of infection. He bled a little and has more scratches than cuts or punctures. But it is terrifying to me how close it is to his eye.

This situation could have been severe. We don’t condemn a dog for its potential to harm and we have done our best over 9 years with Quinn to train him. We do our best every day with the boys to teach them to respect the animals, specifically to prevent this issue. We love our animals and hoped that this day would never come to pass. I would never be the person that swears that their beloved family pet could never harm a child. I knew the risk and hoped we had taken the proper steps. I was wrong. I feel guilt, and sadness and sorrow. I am grateful that Trevor will be just fine. He most likely will not even have any scars.
I fear for what will become of Quinn, because he is not able to continue to live with us.

I have contacted the dog rescue from where he was adopted. Their contract states that they want to regain custody of any dog that can not stay with their adoptive homes. I just know that some agencies can not rehome dogs that have bitten someone.

It hurts to lose a long time member of the family this way. The dog lover in me wants to rationalize his behavior and find a way to continue to take care of him. The mom in me completely overrides that feeling and knows that one bite is too many. He has to go. I only hope that he goes to a new home.

This sucks beyond words.

Quinn is spending the night at Bailey’s tonight while we try to figure out what to do.

This is Trevor’s little face.

I took him on a bike ride to try to get fresh air to clear both our minds, and so he could see Christmas lights before they were all gone. Other than the initial reaction to the incident, Trevor hardly seems to know he is hurt. He was more offended by the ointment than the injury.
He liked his ride and he liked his new gloves.

He went to bed without a problem, albeit late tonight.

When you are doubled over from a hard punch in the gut, life is ready to give you a swift kick in the teeth.