Weekend Update

So overall we had a lovely weekend full of friends and family and birthday celebrating. However, am I the only one that finds that sort of thing both wonderful and exhausting?

I was so happy to get home from dinner with Mike and Ann on Sunday. Matt had a meeting, but it wasn't a big deal because I was just going to put the kids to bed, make cookies for Harper's Thanksgiving party at school today, and chat with Matt's Uncle Joe, who wasn't leaving until this morning. When we got home Michael followed me into the bathroom (as per usual, SIGH) and, after pretending to wash and dry his hands, tripped on the way out of the bathroom, glancing his forehead on the drawer pull.

I heard his head hit and he started crying right away and at first I was thinking it was just a run-of-the-mill head bonk - after all, Michael is a toddler, you'd think falling was his job. As soon as I picked him up I saw a big, big bloody area on his forehead. I grabbed some tissues and applied pressure right away. The bleeding was definitely not too bad, but the cut was WIDE OPEN. In fact, I'm pretty sure the first thing out of my mouth was, "I think we're going to need stitches."

I called for reinforcements and pretty soon Mike, Ann, and Matt's sister Meaghan arrived. We decided Ann would come with me to the hospital and the other three adults would stay at our house and attempt to get Harper in bed. While we waited for Matt's family to arrive, I tried to take a couple of before pictures of Michael's head:



Michael was SUCH a trooper at the hospital. He did cry when they initially took his vitals, but the poor kid was already up past his bed time by nearly an hour. We were sent back to a room pretty quickly and Michael was happy as a clam to look at books. Then a volunteer brought him some crayons and paper on a clipboard. I'm not kidding when I say that he colored happily for over half an hour before getting his stitches and another twenty minutes or so while we were waiting to be discharged. He is such a good boy.

The stitching part was as horrible as you might imagine. They strapped him into a "papoose" which he hated, especially since he sucks his thumb for comfort and couldn't get to it. I tried to comfort him, but I doubt he could hear me over his screaming. Once in a while his eyes would lock with mine and he would be momentarily quiet, then get distracted by the doctor stitching his forehead and start screaming all over again. I could see his lips and mouth getting dry, he was screaming so hard. When they were finally finished and we released him, his hair was wet with sweat and tears. Fortunately my lap and a cup of juice calmed him down almost immediately.

Now we just have to keep the area from getting to crusty/dry and take him back next weekend to get the stitches out.

Today he was tired, but didn't show any other signs of being in pain or discomfort of any kind. His head is only a tiny bit swollen and barely bruised. I guess if you have to have a stitch-requiring injury, this one wasn't too bad.



Oh, Harper was complaining of all kinds of aches and pains last night, had a terrible time getting to sleep, and has had a really pesky ongoing cough. So today I took her to the pediatrician and guess what - ear infection! I was shocked when the doctor told me, because I'm almost certain she's never had one before. Hopefully we'll get it cleared up before we leave for Florida in ten days.

On the Disney front, I found a random pile of underpants in Harper's room today. When I asked her about it, it turned out she'd pulled out all her Disney character briefs and set them aside for our trip.