Finn's slip and clipped lip.

Today didn't turn out how I had planned it at all. Here was the plan: take the kids to the park, eat lunch there, change into school clothes, take Finn to school, do a few errands, pick up Finn, etc etc.

Here's what actually happened: we went to the park. The kids were having a great time and we had been there about a half an hour. Burgundy came over to me crying because she got sand on her hands. I was brushing her off and Finn walked over to me crying with his hand over his mouth. I saw a little bit of blood and thought, uh oh. So I told him to let me see and he moved his hand. There is this moment, as a mother, when you go from thinking, "oh let me kiss it better" to "oh shit". I had that moment today. He moved his hand and there was A LOT of blood. I was trying to see if he had knocked a tooth out (which luckily he didn't) and I could see the HUGE chunk missing from his upper lip. oh shit.

So, at this point I kick into high gear, remaining calm, I gather our things and say ok, let's get in the car. Of course at this park there was no parking lot and we had to walk about 200 hundred feet or so to our car. Finn was crying, but I think he was more worried that his arms were full of blood. So I just kept saying to him, "it's ok buddy, let's get you cleaned up and take a look at it." So I drove (quickly) home, brought him in, cleaned the blood off, got him an ice pack, all the while trying to figure out what to do, take him to the ER? the doctor's office? I called his pediatrician who was luckily in the office and said bring him right over. Finn was calm and not crying at all after it had initially happened. As we were driving to the office I was calling Paula, who was luckily in the neighborhood and could come meet us to watch Burgundy while we got checked out, Cody, Finn's school, my mom who I was on the phone with when it happened and I basically hung up on, etc. Telling everyone what happened, don't know if he'll need stitches, whatever. When I hung up, Finn's little voice from the back seat, "mommy, what are stitches?"
So i explained to him just like mommy sews up a hole in a pair of pants, they would sew up his lip. he asked, "are they sharp?" i told him they would numb him up so he wouldn't even feel it. he seemed ok with that answer.

So we get to the doc's office and he came in and looked at it. I asked, "will he need stitches?" he nods his head like "oh yeah." shit.

So, I was going to ask him about going to a plastics guy since it was on his face, but he told me that before I could ask about it. So off we go to the Layton Tanner clinic. Finn was doing fine, I was still doing fine at this point. Luckily I thought to ask for a topical anesthetic before the shot. The nurse put it on, telling me they normally don't do that because the lip is usually numb anyway. While I do buy that, once they start sticking needles in it, I'm thinking he's gonna feel that. So they put it on there. Good.

I told Finn, when the doctor is working on your lip, try to stay super still and quiet. You can close your eyes and picture yourself walking on the beach at Disneyworld, telling him all these things and I guess it worked. I will save you the gory details, but the jist of it is 11 stitches. 3 interior, 8 exterior. I know because I was there holding his hand the whole time and I counted them out loud for Finn as the doctor put them in. They kept looking at me, like are you sure you're ok to watch this? If you feel woozy, sit down. And i'm thinking, just fix my kid.

So, Finn was a champ. A totally brave little trooper. I thought he would cry when he got the numbing shot. Nope. He sat perfectly still, though that was the hardest part for him, which means he just kind of curled his lip up and squeezed my hand. He was perfectly calm and still the entire time. The doctor said he was by FAR the bravest 5-year-old he'd ever met, and was braver than most of his patients, regardless of age. He also remarked to the nurse at one point it was like working on someone under anesthsia, he was that calm.

Afterwards, he really wanted to look through the doctor's microscope which they let him do. Then he ate lunch because he was starving. Later we went out to dinner. It was hard for me to watch him eat. But it didn't seem to bug him at all. His biggest worries were, missing his "learning" since he missed class today, and he was also a little worried that everyone will ask him about it tomorrow.

Of course, after I put him to bed, I burst into tears. I think I had mild PTSD. Or maybe just a super stressful crazy day.

Here are some pictures, in case you're into that sort of thing.

These first few were with my phone so not super quality, but this is the missing chunk before stitches.
I told Finn he could tell daddy he was like a fish today with a hook in his lip and the nurse told me I should take a picture. So i did.
Looking through the doctor's microscope
And here we are post stitching.

First Day of Kindergarten

No tears were shed. I think we got all of that out of the way on the first day of preschool (me, not him. He never cried). It might be a different story when Burgundy goes, I guess we'll see.

We took our annual "first day of school" pic in front of the peach tree, then headed off. The kids lined up in the lobby and the teacher led them off to the classroom. Finn gave a little wave and off he went. The parents were asked to follow to the classroom for a couple announcements, at the end of which, Ms. Sessions said, "ok kids, say bye bye to your mommy or daddy!" At this point Finn, looked for me, like oh my mom is still here? Then gave another wave and off we went.

They had a "boo-hoo brunch" in the cafeteria to meet the PTA or "POQA" (parents of quest academy). Then Burgundy and I ran around for 3 hours until it was time to pick him up. They tell us the parking lot will become less chaotic at pick up time in a few weeks. That remains to be seen.

So Finn came out and said he had a great day and lots of fun. Yay! My little boy is a kindergartner. Wow.

first day of school picture at the peach tree

in front of the school

waiting for the teacher

oh, you're still here mom? see ya.

after his first day. what a cutie.

last camping trip before school

What a fun trip we had! The kids enjoyed the heck out of camping. We stayed for two nights. There were about a billion stars visible and the milky way stretched all the way across the sky. The moon was down and we sat out watching the Perseids after the kids went to sleep, falling asleep before their heads hit their pillows. We saw tons of shooting stars. We heard an owl hooting throughout the night. We walked down the river, twice, getting our clothes wet and spotting moose tracks.

We were having so much fun I forgot to take too many pictures, but here's what we have:

Sweet home… a photo journal of our vacation

Well, we recently returned from a two week trip to Chicago-land.  There were some not so fun parts, but my oh my was it a great vacation!  It is so good to see my lovely little family, I don’t do that nearly often enough.  I think it’s time we make a plan for an annual reunion, once every few years is definitely not enough.  Uncle Adam had never even MET Burgundy before!  That simply won’t do.

When we first arrived, I got some weird 24-hour stomach flu deal.  I was really not in good shape.  Luckily it cleared up quickly.  About a day after that went away, I woke up to a sensitive tooth.  I was hoping it would be ok until I got back.  I almost made it, but about 4 days before we went home my face swelled up and I was in some pretty decent pain.  So, good times all around.  That did mess up our plans to return to the city one last time which was disappointing, but alas, best laid plans…

 

On the plane ride, the kids did awesome both ways

We stayed the first week at my Uncle Jack’s house while he and his family were in Europe.  They arrived on the same day as Uncle Adam, a week later, and then we moved to my parents’ house In Indiana.

Here are the kids trying to catch lightning bugs the first night. 

 

Finn found a keyboard in Uncle Jack’s basement which provided hours of fun!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe.  First we sat under the gorillas which scared the crap out of Finn when they started to move, so we moved by the fish tank and had a lovely time.

Me, Papa, Finn & Indi went downtown.  Our goal was to take the El (which we did), stop at the Sears Tower (or Serious Tower as Finn calls it) and then go to the children’s museum on Navy Pier.  Well, it was a Sunday and the Sears Tower took up our ENTIRE day.  You stood in a line which looked not so bad, then you were taken to another room with another line, ok, then you go to another room with another line, etc etc.  This happened about 7 times.  It took us about 2 hours or more to get up to the sky deck.  VERY disappointing.  The kids, considering, did great.  Burgundy lost it at the end.  But I can’t blame her one bit.  She started to scream and cry for about the last 5 minutes of the wait, but really, she was just doing exactly what each of us felt.  She’s just young enough to get away with it!  But we finally got to the top, spent about 10 minutes up there and came back down.  So that was a big bummer.  But we did get to go out on the “Ledge” which was very crowded and gave Papa vertigo.  Then we ate pizza at Giordano’s and I spent about an hour in the bathroom.  Then as we were going to catch the train to the car, I had another bout and thought I’m not going to be able to sit on this train for half an hour so I went back up to the employee booth and asked her if there was a bathroom down in the subway station.  There was not, but apparently I looked miserable enough that she let me use the employee bathroom.  Bless her!  And then half-way home I had to spend another 20 minutes in a bathroom in a Holiday Inn.  Good times.

But, here we are on the el.

Here we are when we first came up from the Blue Line station.  We parked at Cumberland and rode the rest of the way in.  Which was a good idea on my dad’s part!

Here we are on the “Ledge” of the tower.  It’s basically a plexiglass box sticking out of the 103rd floor.

 

Next, my sister came with me to get my tattoo!  Here we are with Hannah Aitchison of LA Ink.  She was delightful.  Extremely nice and amazingly talented.  My tattoo is almost fully healed and it looks spectacular.  I totally love it.  And she was fast!  She put in such amazing detail and did it all in about 2 hours.  I will definitely go back to her for my next one!  So, although it hurt when it started out, it got better as it went on, and it was a fun time.  Especially since my sister came with me :)  Afterwards, we went out to eat at the flat top grill with my friend, Dave.  A fun day.

These kids had such a fun time together (notice me on the couch in the background, this was right after I got my tattoo so I couldn’t lay on my back)

Here we are in Indiana.  Love this picture of Indi & Papa

 

This was right after Uncle Adam arrived.  Finn couldn’t wait to ask him to wrestle!

Burgundy was acting very much like a two-year old the first week.  Somehow, when we got to Nana & Papa’s the 2nd week, she kind of snapped out of it.  She really warmed up to everyone and had a lovely time.  My happy girl came back and was a joy to be around again!

Adam found a bee bee gun and we all had fun with that! 

Here are the kids in the fun little pool.  There was no shortage of fun thing for those kids to do!  They loved every minute of it!

Uncle Adam suggested they make a go-kart one day, so of course there was no getting out of that one!  Finn made sure of that!  So here they are doing “go-kart” rides.

Here’s Nana with Uncle Louie.  It was fun to see him!  We spent the first night at his house when we came to Indiana, but it was hard since he goes to bed at 3pm and gets up at 1am.  We got in at about 1030pm and it was impossible to keep the kids quiet!  So, although he had the nice extra room for us, we smushed together down at my mom & dad’s.  But we wouldn’t want it any other way!

 

Everybody loves chocolate milk!

So, it was a lovely two weeks with the Stafford fam.  Can’t wait to do it again!  Love you guys :)

my family

So I have lots of pictures from my recent trip to Chicago. Seeing as it is 1 in the a.m., I will save the big post for later. I just wanted to say I really love my family.

Before I left, my kids were kind of driving me nuts, I wasn't sure how it would be to be "on my own" with my kids. Funny thing is, I was never on my own, of course. I had the whole village there.

Just wanted to say that I am so in love with my kids right now. Burgundy left here 2 weeks ago, she was very much a 2-year old. Somehow that 2nd week she started to snap out it. She has been my happy little person again. And as for Finn, well he was basically a dream the whole trip. They both loved playing with big cousin Sydney, and loved being around Nana, Papa, Aunt Jen & Uncle Adam. And somehow, even though I'm home again, without all the extra help, I am enjoying my kids in a way I hadn't for a little while there. The trip was good for us.

Even though the trip had it's hang up and hold backs, no matter the weather, it is always good to see my family. I miss them terribly.