Our Biggest Boo-boo Yet

This week we had a major mishap here at our house. Even though it's an entire day that I would happily erase from my memory forever, I feel compelled to document it now that  Ella is  I am past the trauma of it all. After all, first stitches are a pretty big deal! :(

On Tuesday afternoon, Ella and I were spending our time hanging around the house and playing at home. Carter was at school (Thank the Lord!). She and I were upstairs playing and being silly. She was running from me down the hall, tripped and fell and slammed her head into the corner of the wall. I was less than 2 feet behind her, so I scooped her up really quick. But when I saw all the blood I went into panic mode, and couldn't even think of what to do. As many times as I've completed First Aid/CPR classes, it all went out the window when I saw my baby get hurt. She didn't lose consciousness, she just screamed inconsolably while I stammered around the house with her in my arms trying to find my cell phone. I called Eric first, and I don't even remember what I said to him, all I know is that he told me to call 911, so I did. They were at our house within about 3 minutes  By that time she had calmed down, but she was completely covered in blood from her forehead down to her chin, and there was no doubt about the large, gaping wound in the middle of her forehead. They assessed her, said she would definitely need several stitches, but felt like because she didn't lose consciousness and seemed to be acting pretty normal and speaking clearly at that point, it was fine for me to take her to the ER rather than them transport her there. They cleaned and dressed her head wound while she told them all about what happened, her favorite movies, her big brother, and her doggie. And she had to go outside and see the firetruck before they left. :)

Eric got home just a few minutes later, and together we headed to Children's in Plano. Once we got there and checked her in, Eric went to get Carter from school and brought him back to where we were. He was very concerned to hear of what happened to Ella. When he came in, Ella's wound was cleaned but exposed, and he was shocked to see how bad it looked. After being in there a few minutes, he said to me, "Mommy, I'm scared." Broke my heart. So, the first step was to get the area numb. They put a gel on it and we had to wait about an hour for it to fully kick in. Second step was to medicate Ella so she could get through the sutures. She was given an oral medication that mellowed her out and made her very silly and loopy. After about 20 minutes, they were ready. She was wrapped up like a burrito to keep her hands away, and they began. She did amazing while the doctor worked. We kept her happy and distracted her by asking her questions. She only fussed a couple of times, but nothing too bad. Carter was a bit squeamish while watching, he kept looking away, but kept insisting he wanted to watch to make sure Ella was ok. My brave boy. After about 10 minutes of work and 11 stitches (3 internally, 8 on the outside), she was done! She said it came back together perfectly, and hopefully there will be minimal scarring once it's completely healed. The stitches should be fully dissolved by the end of next week. Once we were discharged, we headed home to feed some very hungry children. It had happened just before lunch, so Ella hadn't eaten anything but a popsicle since her snack at about 11am. Poor girl. Then we got them to bed a bit early. We were all exhausted, especially Ella, as she missed out on her usual nap. We were all glad when the day was finally over.

Sweet little angel waiting at the ER. This was about an hour after the incident. Look at the blood on her shirt, and you can sort of see the remnants of all the blood that had been wiped off her face. :( Thank goodness for lovey.

Excited to see Kung Fu Panda in the lobby!

 A little bit of a gruesome picture, but it looks pretty good here compared to what it actually looked like.

Sweet, concerned big brother

The loopy medicine has kicked in, HA!

She was so funny! It was about 4:00 by this time, she hadn't had a nap and was already close to the point of delirium. Add the meds and we had one very silly girl!

She giggled so much she got the hiccups!

Kisses from Carter before getting her stitches.

 All done! And still very loopy... can you tell??

Pretty girl the next morning. She got a good night's sleep, and you wouldn't even know anything bad had happened to her.

What a scary day! I definitely learned some things through this experience, and hopefully if anything like this ever happens again, I'll be better prepared. Although, I don't know that anything prepares you for helping your child in a traumatic state like that. It's hard no matter the circumstances. I'm very thankful it wasn't any worse, and feel forever indebted to the first responders, the nurses and doctors that helped us.

Cute Boots?

Sometime last year my Mom was browsing online, and found the most adorable pair of little girls' boots that she couldn't resist buying for Ella.

Soooo cute, right? 

So she finally gets them in and brings them over to my house one day. We "Ooooh" and "Ahhhhh" over the cuteness, I comment on how huge they are, and because Ella has such tiny feet it may be the next year until she can actually wear them. Back in the box they go, and into the closet for a whole year. Until today. I pulled them out and thought, well they still look kinda big, but they may work.... Let's try them! So I dress Ella really quick, throw her boots on, and carry her out the door to get into the car. Drive to run my errands. Get there, get her out, set her down when we get inside, AND..... squeak, squeak, squeak every time she steps. So loud and obnoxious.... imagine a giant dog toy! I'm absolutely mortified. Of course, she is as surprised and confused about what is happening as I am..... and that quickly turns into elation/joy, and she starts jumping, running, acting like a wild woman to get them to squeak. Thank goodness it was a quick errand..... I couldn't get her out of there fast enough! I snatch her up, and a giant fit ensues because she wants to keep playing with her shoes. She's kicking and screaming "NEW SHOOOOOEEEES!" as I take her out back to the car. I call my mom and fill her in on the truth about the cute boots on the way to our next errand, the grocery store. I actually considered driving home and changing her boots beforehand, but figured I could come up with another plan to avoid another round of humiliation. I told her she was allowed to walk in from the parking lot holding my hand, but THAT WAS IT. I had to bribe her with a sweet treat just to get her to sit in the cart the whole time so I wouldn't be humiliated by these shoes again. When I got home, I just had to take a video and send it to my Mom. I knew she'd get a good laugh out of this.

Oh my goodness. The laughs and adventures never end!

Saturday Morning at Hope Park

We have been to Hope Park a few times recently with friends, and it is quickly becoming one of my kids' favorite places. So when I asked them last Saturday what they wanted to do, they both said Hope Park! Eric was working, so I headed out early with the kids to beat the crowd, and we stayed and played for about an hour and a half or so before it got really busy. I actually remembered my camera this time, too!

They love these bucket swings!

 She looks like she is holding on for dear life!

 There are so many cool play structures at this park, and this roll-through thingy is one of their favorites.

 This must've been made just for my kiddos. A blonde and a redhead!!

 Making music together

 More fun on another cool swing.

 Love.

 Getting dizzy.

I see lots more visits to this great park in the future for us!

Simon Says

I mentioned in the post I did about Ella at 2 years that she loves to play Simon Says. Recently, she has started asking to be Simon. It's amazing to me at just barely 2 years of age, that she comprehends games like this and can actually participate!! 

Here is a funny video of the kids playing together.

Sharkarosa

We took the kids to Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch last weekend with Nana and Grandad. We all had a great time and I wanted to share some cell phone pics.

Ella petting a baby capybara. 

If you're like me and have no clue what that is, get excited because it's the world's largest RODENT. Ewww. Just imagine the adults!

Petting zoo

Pot belly pig... Ella looks a little unsure!

A little insecure, needed hugs from Grandad! She eventually got very comfortable with all the animals really close to her, and was walking around like she owned the place before we left.

Eric got stuck with the cup of feed because neither of the kids were willing to have the animals eat out of their hand, and neither was I. HA! He and that baby camel became friends.

On the safari ride

It was pretty amazing how close you actually were to these animals. There were buckets attached to the tram, and the driver would come and fill them with feed at each stop, so the animals would come right up next to you! This was at the end of the ride when we saw the camels. But we also saw and fed Clydesdale horses (you know Ella was in heaven with that!), zebras, deer, reindeer, mini donkeys, and even a zorse (yes, a zebra mixed with a horse) and a zedonk (zebra/donkey)!

There was much more to see that I don't have pictures of, including a black bear exhibit, lemurs, sloths, monkeys, and my favorite, the kangaroo and wallaby exhibit. Definitely lots to see, and it made for a great afternoon outing! And just for fun, to see pictures from the first time we visited Sharkarosa 2 years ago, click here and scroll down about halfway. :)