Responsible blogging means not running off and abandoning your blog for four days! So I suck. I’m sorry. But I promise I have some good excuses! Um, let’s see here… my birthday/birthday party, Dan’s sisters spending the weekend, some work, and then doing things with both my family and his family on Sunday. I have no real excuse for Monday, except taking Ryan to the doctor (wasted trip), doing a bunch of laundry and slacking with other stuff.
So! I am definitely 24 (now I need to run around and update all of my sidebars and online profiles!). Thank you for all of the nice birthday wishes, emails and IMs that came in throughout the weekend. I read them as I got the chance. 
My birthday party was awesome! It may have been just family, but all of my favorite people (except for our friend Jason, who took me out to dinner and gave me a present earlier in the week) were there. ♥ There was food and cake and alcohol and talking and laughing and fun. Just how I like my social gatherings to be! ;)
I pretty much got everything I wanted for my birthday, which is always nice. ;) I got myself a flash and a 8GB memory card (I bought the flash in May, and I’m waiting on the 8GB memory card’s arrival in the mail), Dan is getting me a new stereo system (he’s insisting on a sub woofer and amp and speakers and god knows what else; I’d be just as happy with only the new stereo!), Jason got me a tripod, Dan’s brothers got me a laptop hard drive (they had to order it; it should be in on Tuesday and I can’t wait!), and my mom is getting me a “surprise” in July (though she did bring me a bouquet of roses).
Dan and I didn’t go to sleep until after 6am Saturday morning. This would be because Dan and his brothers went and picked up his sisters, and all six of us spent the entire night talking, while Dan and Chris had several drinks and Dan got kind of silly. Heh. And I did get pictures!
Alyssa and Ryan were up by 10am, of course, and since Dan had to work in the afternoon, I got up with them. Early in the afternoon we went out to get Dan a Father’s Day present (two books from the kids, shot glasses from me) and dinner, and when we came back I took a blessed two hour nap.
Sunday! My mom, brothers and grandfather came over in the afternoon. I made a late brunch of pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs for everyone (dude, cooking for nine people is not easy!), we then gave Dan and my grandfather their Father’s Day presents, and at 6pm Dan, his sisters and I left to meet up with their brothers for a game of mini-golf. We had a lot of fun! Then we picked up pizza, came back, and talked and spent several hours playing American Idol Karaoke.
Monday! I took Ryan to the doctor. On Thursday evening I noticed he had a weird circular mark on his lower back — almost like the outline of a circle. He had a bath prior to his nap, and the spot wasn’t there then. After his nap, whomp there it is (you know you’re a twenty-something when you know EXACTLY where that came from!)! I seriously don’t know where it came from. There is nothing in his room that could have made that mark! By Sunday morning, the circle outline had filled in to a complete circular area, approximately 1cm across, of raw looking skin — almost like a cut that had its scab ripped off, or a second degree burn.
I was definitely worried at this point, but I knew that the situation definitely didn’t warrant going to the hospital for. So, I continued with the routine of keeping neosporin and a sterile gauze pad on it during the day, and letting it air out at night (and using onesies so that Ryan couldn’t reach the bandage or the spot), and called the doctor on Monday morning. I was able to take him in for a 2:45pm appointment.
Doctors… grrr! We get there at 2:45pm, and sit in the waiting room until almost 3:30pm. Ryan is not patient. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that he cannot stand to sit still for more than 0.5 seconds. Well, you can imagine what he was like after forty-five minutes of walking around the office holding my hand and sitting with me: a sweaty, screaming, red faced mess. I’m sure the other patients waiting in the room with me wanted to kill me. I felt like throttling the receptionists who refused to put us in a room where I could close the door and let him wander around, despite complaints that I KNOW other people made (in addition to my polite request for a room!).
The doctor himself was… ugh. Not stupid, just annoying. Rather than come right out and say, “Well, I’m not sure what it is, so let’s keep an eye on it for a few days”, it was, “Well, it’s not [blah] because of X, Y and Z, and it’s not [blah #2] because of X, Y and Z, and it definitely doesn’t look like [blah #3] because of X, Y and Z. So! Keep doing what you’re doing and will see you for a follow-up on Saturday”.
Dude, just admit that YOU DON’T KNOW. I promise that those four words (or is it three? a contraction does still count as two words, right?) will not make you look like an idiot. Trying to cover up the fact that you *gasp* don’t know does make you look like an idiot.
So, Ryan and I will just keep chugging along. I looked around online tonight, and the only thing I found that sort of resembles the spot he has is impetigo. But only sort of. As in, out of thirty different images of impetigo, I saw two that fit the bill. And even then, the form of impetigo that it looks like occurs mostly on the face and around the mouth. This is on his back. Well, whatever. I’m careful not to touch it directly (I put the neosporin on the gauze pad itself), and Ryan can’t get to it because of a) where it’s located and b) the onesies I keep him in.
Ugh, busy week ahead. Good busy, but STILL busy. More on that later.
I’m really tired right now. I’d stay up for Dan, except that he is having a REALLY late night at work, and waiting until 4 or even 5am just isn’t my cup of tea. Besides, someone needs to get up with the kidlets in the morning! Alyssa is going to “Ma-mom’s” for the day, and she was bouncing off the walls in excitement earlier tonight. I can only imagine how crazy she’s going to be seven hours from now, when MOMMY THE SUN’S UP!
But before I go… PICTURES!
Roses from my mom.
Cake. Yes, it got smushed on one side. 
Alyssa and I.
Lovin’ the spiffy drinks Dan makes me!
I made a wish. ;)
Dan and his brother sing Holiday. In falsetto, of course.
Dan and I.
Dan and I.
Father’s Day presents for Dan!
Dan enjoys a shot with one of his new shot glasses.
Behind the mini-golf course.
Sunday evening sunset. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
Flickr love! I swear, my sister in law and I did not plan our pink and blue balls to wind up side by side like that!
Hahah, I’ve abandoned my blog for more than 4 days before, I think I FAIL too!
Lol your schedule this past weekend makes me feel tired, and all I’m doing is reading about it!
Hmm, Ryan’s rash sounds mysterious, and the waiting at the doctor sucks! I’D have been pissed if I’d had to wait that long, and I’m not two! As for what it is…could it be ringworm? *stabs in dark*
Lol at Dan and his brother and their semi-matching shirts! Your cake is awesome, even if it is slightly dented!
Ryan’s thing sounds kind of like what my parents told me about when I was younger. I guess I had a onesie with one metal snap, but after wearing it I would have little circle, snap-shaped marks all over me! They had no clue, so they look me to the doctor and they figured I was allergic to nickel, which the snap was made out of. Not necessarily the same thing as Ryan has, but maybe look at what he was wearing during his nap when it first appeared, or it there was anything during the bath that could have caused it? I dunno…hope you figure it out soon and it’s nothing serious!
Crap I’ve left mine for almost 2 months now! About Ryan’s rash? That’s weird. I’m surprised they couldn’t give you some miracle kill all cream or something, then again I have the same experience with pediatrician’s in my area. Mine is an idiot and frankly after our last visit I’m going to look for another one. Fortunately she doesn’t get sick and she had her shots so we’re good for a while! Just as Holly said, it sounded like ringworm when you described it. Although, that itches pretty bad from what I heard.
I dunno, chug along as long as it doesn’t grow or get funky or annoy him too much. Oh and the song reference….I think I was in high school when that was out. Thanks for making me feel super old there 24 year old punk!
impetigo… ehhh
I got inpetigo when I was a freshman in college and it was bad It’s a “rare” skin disease that also links to your urinary system as well (meaning PAINFUL UTI’S).
It sucked.
I hope to god Ryan doesn’t have it and it’s just somethnig innocent.
The circular rash could be a ring worm. They are very reddish/raw looking and are about the size you described. They just turn up on you just out of the blue (thats what happened to me). I have had them before and they are highly contagious and I got them from my persian cat. Persian cats are high carriers of them. We didn’t know ours had it b/c we mistaked it for being dirt between his toes and it turned out to be ringworm.
^ I agree with the above poster – I would try some ring worm cream on it and see if it clears up…thing is you never know where you get ring worm from because you can get it from a variety of different things/places. I got ring worm years ago next to my belly button; have no idea where it came from or how I got it, but it started out as something that reminded me of a bug bite, itchy and eventually turned into what you’re describing now! Either way, I’m sure it’s nothing to be highly alarmed about
Sounds like you had an awesome birthday!! :D
happy belated birthday!
your cake is absolutely GORGEOUS!
Happy Belated Birthday!
I agree with some of the other posters, it kind of sounds like ringworm. My oldest used to get them a lot… I guess because he’s the kind of kid who has to constantly be outside, playing in the dirt lol. I hope whatever it is clears up soon! :biggrin:
Wow, weird — not only are we the same age (my 24th is tomorrow!) but I came to mention ringworm as well. It must be coincidence day! :biggrin:
billy coaches wrestling and the wrestlers get ring worm & the “tigo” all the time. it’s actually not a big deal & is treated with anti-fungal cream almost always. the tigo can get out of control but it happens rather fast because it’s HIGHLY contagious. i’d say ring worm because you have cats & it’s a lot more likely to get.
instead of neosporin, why don’t you put an anti-fungal on it and just see what happens. i’ve gotten it from billy before and we used the spray stuff you can spray on your feet for athletes feet & it killed it/made it go away in 2 days.
I’d say ringworm too, but you’d think a doctor could come up with a diagnosis as simple as that… either he’s an idiot, or there’s some underlying factor ruling it out that the rest of us don’t know.
If he didn’t specifically state it wasn’t ringworm, slap some anti-fungal on there and give it a few days. Obviously, stop if it gets worse, lol…
Responsible blogging? Lol, 4 days? Try 4 weeks!! Haha. Happy Belated Jen!! Looks like you guys had a ton of fun. I read backwards on your blog, I hope all is well with Ryan *hugs*