tumble

Saturday, after Ellie's tea party, I was upstairs blogging and Chris was downstairs doing whatever it is that he does on his laptop.

I had just typed the sentence about being fiercly protective of her as she headed downstairs for something.

I heard a thud, another thud, an OHMYGOD!, silence, then screaming.

She had fallen headfirst down the stairs, from nearly the top.

I seriously sat here for a second, not wanting to know how bad it was.

When I worked up the courage to get up and look, she was sitting at the bottom of the steps, holding her head.

She fell this far:

Chris was right there.

The look on his face scared me the most, cause he had witnessed the fall.

He was white as a sheet and visibly shaking.

When she calmed down, we checked her out.

She could move everything.

Nothing really hurt, except her head and her wrist.

She had not a mark on her, with the exception of a small abrasion on her head.

I called Ken, he's our "go to" for medical crisis' and then called Nurse on Call.

Due to the length of the fall, we decided to take her to the ER.

It was a quick trip.

She checked out ok. 

But they were hesitant to do a ct scan on her because of all the radiation, blah blah blah.

We were sent home with instructions to wake her up every 2 hours to check on her, make sure she was coherent, not bleeding from ears or nose, etc...

She was asleep by 8.

Checked on her at 10. Fine.

Checked on her at 12.  Nose was bleeding.

Damn.

Slight heart attack.

Seriously.

Texted Ken, who basically said, take her back in you idiots!

So off we went again.

So at 12:09, as she officially turned 6, we were in the car headed back to the ER.

This time there was pain in her belly as well.

So she got not one, but two ct scans.

Thankfully, all came back well.

No bleeds anywhere.

She was back in her bed, asleep, by 2:30.

She woke up on Sunday, her birthday, totally fine.

Not even sore anywhere.

Kids are resilient.

We proceded as planned.

Breakfast out.

Chimpanzee.

Zoo.

Totally fine.

I think we got extremely lucky.

We dodged a serious bullet.

Or my mama was right there.

One or the other.

I don't think Chris will ever be the same.



for ann

I grew up in a very small town in the country.

So small we didn't have one single stop light.

Or even a fast food restaurant.

I had less than 75 kids in my graduating class.

And it took 5 towns like mine to make that many.

Although the town was small, the people of the town were anything but.

It was full of characters.

There was Jerry.

He owned Jerry's Dairy Freezer, our ice cream joint that was only open in the summer.

He looked exactly like you would expect him to.

I still have cravings for watermelon slushes and vanilla cokes.

No one makes them like Jerry.

Then there was Hillard Porter.

He had been around as long as anyone could remember.

He had the prettiest flowers in his yard and decorated one of his trees with teddy bears.

He was the town historian and everyone loved him.

There was also Larry Hall.

He was the principal at the elementary and the town benefactor of sorts.

He always scared the bejeebies out of me.

Those were the days when paddling was still allowed in schools.

I was never in danger of getting paddled, but I saw him go at a kid one day.

Scary stuff when you are 9.

I see him occasionally when I go home and still tremble a little.

Of course, he is as nice as can be, but to any kid he principaled,

he is no joke scary.

And finally, there was Ann Meister.

She was my third grade teacher and a friend of the family.

God Bless Mrs.Meister.

She lived, maybe a quarter mile from me.

As a child, her house was exactly half way between my house and Mocks.

Mocks was the old general store where we got our candy.

It was dusty and old and wonderful.

A doller could buy you a bag full of sugar.

At least once a week, my mom would give me a dollar and send my on my way.

Every single time and I mean every. single. time,

I would stop at Mrs. Meisters house for a drink of water and band-aid and a blue mint.

I didn't even really like the blue mint, but they were always so pretty in the bowl and I was convinced that this would be the time I would love it.

Can you even imagine that?

Just popping in like that and asking for refreshments?

I probably drove her crazy some days.

I would sit and visit and probably overstay my welcome.

She never made me feel that way though.

She would ask me questions and be (or pretend to be) terribly interested in the answers.

As a kid, she always made me feel so special.

At my bridal shower, she bought me water and bandaids, cause, you know, I always seemed to need them. 

It was also around then she told me I could call her Ann instead of Mrs. Meister.

I still have trouble with that one.

She will always be Mrs. Meister to me.

Ann has been having a few bad years, and I just got word she fell and hurt herself pretty badly.

I think she reads the ol' blog here.

I am thinking of you Mrs. Meister!  Sending lots of love from Cleveland.

Feel better soon!



6

She will wake up tomorrow and be 6.

I am not even sure how that happened.

It seems like yesterday I was in the tub, with my humongo belly an island in the water, wondering what she would be like.

Now, 6 years later I know that she is

funny and kind and sensitive and smart as a whip.

I know she loves to color and read and be with her friends.

I know her favorite foods are oatmeal and pasta and chocolate chip cookies.

I know she is brave and a pro at the monkey bars.

I know she plans to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up.  And a mommy.

She wants to always live with me.

And right now, boys are yucky.

What I didn't know then, couldn't possibly know at that time,

was how very much I would love her.

How she would completely change my world for the better.

I didn't know how fiercely protective I would feel or how everything would become new again when I saw it through her eyes.

I never fathomed that I would think of her as a friend, at so young, even though I never tell her that, cause I am her mom first, and she best recognize...

I can't believe she is 6.

To celebrate, she wanted a tea party.

Dance floor

 I sent the girls on a scavenger hunt for their party favors. 

One clue was clear across the street!

It was a fun afternoon.

Tea and lemonade and dancing and fashion shows.

Happy 6, kid.

the little things

I am in a weird transition.

I still want to be home for Ellie.  But don't.

I'm a little bored with her gone all day but am being extremely picky with my job search.

I am busy with birthday and life stuff.

And just a titch stressed about how it will all end up.

Should I do something that is not my passion but pays well?

Or should I stick to what I love and make less money?

Or can both be achieved?

Can I find exactly what I want and still be at home?

Tricky stuff.

I have found that I have been hurrying and bustling around too much lately.

So over the last few days I have been refocusing on the little things.

Things like:

Flowers in the bathroom.

And taking the time to let her tie her shoes, even though we were running a little late.

She is so close.

 And making the effort to do something good for my body in a pretty place.

ps. the lunges i did yesterday are making their presence known.  my butt muscles are screaming.

 Coloring at the doctor.  And noticing how grown up she is getting.

 Savoring the flavors of the blueberries in my morning oats.

And lingering over my 2nd or 4th cup of coffee.  Because, right now, I can.

 Making a little extra effort for the food for a jewelry party I threw for a friend.

It was all worth it.

And was one of the reasons I was doing extra lunges...

 Taking a picture of her messy morning bed, cause one day she is not going to have 300 stuffed animals, kids books, or loveys in it.

 A nice clean sun room.

I opened this room up for the jewelry party, and wowza.

It had a rough winter.

It is not even remotely weather proofed and all manner of bugs and such get in there.

This year, there was even some fun mold growing from our warmer than usual winter.

Murphy's Oil Soap and straight bleach saved the day.

It is all nice and bright in there now.

I am also enjoying a good book with another on it's way.

(Have you read Fifty Shades of Gray?  It is on its way to my doorstep and is, apparently, um, very hard to put down.)

I am enjoying a clean house and sunshine.

And looking forward to another fun weekend.

And a possible daytime date with my guy.

It's the little things people.

Enjoy them.

burst of activity

We are coming upon a burst of serious activity over the next few weeks.

I am nervous about all that needs done.

We've got:

Book Club

Dance

Babysitting for friends

Birthday Party for a friend

Hosting a Stella and Dot Party

A different book club

Dance again

Hero Dance with Daddy

Tea Party birthday Party for Ellie

Going to see Chimpanzee on her actual birthday (annual tradition...)

Dance again

Family Birthday Party for Ellie

Birthday Party for Natalie

This is all in the next 3ish weeks.

Cra-zy.

Fun.  But Crazy.

That means I am hosting people at my house for the next 3 weekends.

I love to do it.

But I always stress just a little bit about it.

I don't know why.

Throw a possible new job in the mix.

Plus the every day everydays,

and BAM!

We are busy.



weekend

We had a fantastic weekend!

We started it off with a trip to the Indoor Amusement Park.

We took a friend this year and the girls ran us moms ragged.

We stood in front of this mirror for a good 5 minutes laughing.

 Then Chris and I had a date night.

He had just read the Hunger Games and we went and saw the movie.

First though, we imbibed and watched the end of the Saturday matches of the Masters.

 Then Saturday, our sweet friends Kevin and Lisa has a gigantic egg hunt for the kids.

It was such a nice morning.

 Chris even got some baby love.

Is Reagen not the cutest thing ever?

 Then Sunday morning found us egg hunting.

 Someone was still a wittle sweepy.

I completely dropped the ball on any kind of food for Easter Sunday.

Like, I had nothing planned or in the fridge to cook for the entire day.

Mom Fail.

So we went to Grumpy's for breakfast.

And had popcorn for lunch.

And cheese and crackers and apples for dinner.

Cause that's how we roll.

And bless my girl.

She let us watch the entire Masters.

And it was a good one.

Go Bubba!

He was a blubbering mess when he won.

I loved it.

I may even have a new favorite golfer.

Another great weekend.

I have it good.

lately

Lately:

We have been playing catch-up from the plague of 2012.

Lots of laundry and grocery store going and such.

Lately:

I have been busy planning for a little somone's 6th birthday.

I am throwing a tea party for her and 5 friends for under $75.

It helps when you serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, serve homemade cupcakes, and the activities planned are a scavenger hunt and a dance party.

Lately:

I am grumpy. 

Lately:

We have been dyeing Easter eggs and I am afeared that my fingers may be permantly stained.

Lately:

I have found a church I really like.  And Ellie likes it.  And they allow coffee in the sanctuary during the service.  And they give you a Bible when you walk in.  And we are going again on Saturday night for Easter services.

Lately:

I have noticed that our backyard must be the secret path for all the stray cats in the neighborhood.  I have seen 6 different cats in the last 3 days.  One big old orange tom drive Atticus bananas.

Lately:

I have plans to make these.

(From Lisa Leonard)

I am going to send them in to Ellie's class tomorrow, so I don't eat them all...

Lately:

Ellie got her hair cut.

She looked all professional in the chair.

We bought a big round brush so we can try and recreate the straightening whilst drying technique.

Lately:

The aforementioned kid and I have been on the outs.  Wowza.

Lots of parenting happening all up in these parts.

I drop her off at school every morning wishing our morning had gone better.

That makes me sad.

Lately:

I am at an impasse on working out.

The sickness got me all unmotivated.

Must. Get. Motivated.

Luckily, my appetite hasn't been all that great.

So that helps.

Lately:

We have lots to look forward to.

Parties, and get-togethers, and fun summer plans.

Life is good.