You should see the other guy...

I have to interrupt the posts about last weeks' trip to visit Derek to share about yesterday's afternoon spent at Children's Mercy (once again).

It all started at 10ish this morning when Jackson fell on hit his face on the fireplace mantle. I didn't see the accident, but I looked as soon as I heard the thud. His poor little body was just shaking as he cried- it just hurt so bad! His eye had already turned purple in the time it took me to rush over to him.

This is right after it happened, after I was able to calm him down (Elmo DVD)

I didn't know quite what to do next. I called left a message for the nurse at Jackson's doctor office and I sent picture texts to friends and family for advice. I mean, I don't want to be the mom who takes her child to urgent care several times a year just for dramatic stories to tell. There was a general consensus that we should get it checked out, so we headed over to Children's Mercy.

A friend from church came to look after Chacey and James so I didn't have to take three kids (Debbie, you are awesome!). It took about an hour to get checked in through triage, to get a room, and to see the doctor. Jackson didn't like the doctor much at all cried, "I'm done!! I'm done!!" the entire time she just tried to look at his boo-boo. She decided stitches were necessary (though she called them something else) and she started to explain about the numbing gel that needs to set for 30 minutes and I was like, "Yeah, yeah... we've done this before. I know what's going on."

The numbing gel under the patch

Jackson was actually pretty good for being hungry, tired, and having what I can only imagine as being an awful headache. Children's Mercy is stocked with all sorts of goodies to pass the time. Jackson colored with markers and played with trains. He was having fun.

It was over an hour before the parade of staff crowded into our room- the doctor, a nurse practitioner, two RN's, and a child entertainer (I'm sure she has a more official name). And from this point on, Jackson did not have any more fun. They wrapped him up in a contraption that looks as if it were taken from a toddler psychiatry ward-- a long board that velcro-ed him in at the shoulder, mid-section, and legs. It took the two RNs to hold his head still and I held his legs. The child entertainer came with all sorts of gimmicks in her bag to distract him-- bubbles, Elmo books, flashy toys-- but nothing helped at all. He was just mad. The doctor reassured me that he wasn't in pain, that the numbing gel did it's job. It was only because of the restraint. That makes sense, but it was still awful to help hold him down and to hear his screams, even if you know it's for the better!

He ended up with three stitches. It didn't take long to settle down after they were finished, especially after one of the nurses brought in some juice, teddy grahams, and a lunchable. He's back to his normal self, though he looks like he got in one heck of a fight! Here are some pictures from this morning:

Stitches up top, black eye on bottom

He's a happy boy, back to his silly, rambunctious self!

I'm still wondering if there is a patient-rewards or frequent-flyer program for the hospital. So anyway, this was our day yesterday. I will be back tomorrow to talk about Derek's actual graduation. It was probably the coolest part of the whole weekend.

MOPS

I wrote this post yesterday with the intention of posting it last night, but my internet was down so it had to wait until this morning.

It's no secret that I despise practically all things cleaning, so it's completely ironic that my new favorite activity is titled MOPS. It actually stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and it's a community of moms that meet a couple times a month. There are groups all across the country and it wasn't until I had a friend mention MOPS on facebook that it even dawned on me to look and find a place close to me!

There was a meet-and-greet activity on Monday night and our first meeting was this morning. I love making new friends, especially ones who have a similar goals of raising their kids in a Godly home! Plus, there is yummy food. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know the ladies more and making new friends.

One of Jackson's favorite things to do these days is to jump from the fireplace onto his little couch. This is what he was doing as I was preparing to leave... only he missed and instead of landing on the cushy part, he landed face first onto the plastic armrest. He had a nice goose egg as he walked into his class and the poor guy couldn't really open his eye all the way.

In other non-related news, I went to my 16 week check up yesterday and I actually lost two pounds, which still puts me at negative total weight gain. Interesting.

We have had just a crazy, busy week. I haven't even had the chance to write Derek a letter for three days-- a first since he left almost two months ago! Jackson and I haven't spent a lot of good one-on-one time together, but while we were eating dinner at church tonight, he insisted on having his arm around my back while we both ate for the entire meal. It was a hassle, for sure, but it was the sweetest thing ever. He would pat my back, lean over to give me kisses (without even being asked) and was just full of love. I was in mommy heaven!!

Larry the Home Depot Guy

Today I took two one-year-olds into Home Depot to buy some grass seed and fertilizer. Since they didn't have any double-seater-stroller-race-car available, I put both kiddos in the basket of a normal cart and headed to garden department. Things were fine until we were in the same spot for too long (choosing a type of grass- who knew there were so many!?) and Jackson got bored and Chacey was just super tired. Did I mention it was nap time?

So, Larry the Home Depot guy, comes over to ask if I had need help. Not only does this man have answers to all my questions about grass and fertilizer and the basics of getting grass to grow--if it's called Tall Fescue does it mean that it grows taller faster and needs mowed more often? (answer, no)-- but he was so helpful and patient with me as I had to interrupt the conversation constantly to attend to my child who had already put one leg out of the cart in efforts to climb out. Larry the Home Depot guy even continuously picked up my keys off the floor as Jackson kept throwing out of the cart while I held Chacey who had pretty much fallen asleep in my arms.

Then went to find a big cart, loaded up the grass (a mixed blend if you're curious) and the fertalizer. He walked it to the cash register, scanned the items himself, and then followed me out to load it all in my car. Then, he even waited for me to get the kids buckled in so he could return both carts.

Talk about customer service! Since it is so easy to focus on complaining sometimes, I just wanted to take a quick moment and focus how a great employee made a dreadful task so much easier!

One a completely different note, this is Jackson's black eye. He fell last night and hit the coffee table- he went to bed with a scratch and woke up with a black eye.