First Trip to the ER - from Mom's Point of View

(This blog will be from my Mom's point of view since she can explain everything more clearly.) So, yesterday was interesting...
As I was pulling dinner out of the oven last night, around 7:0o, Olivia and Opie were laying on the floor by my feet. All of sudden, I heard some movement, and Opie ran out of the room while Liv started screaming and crying. I immediately scooped her up and realized that her lip was bleeding, badly. I really believe that they were laying on the ground and that she grabbed his tail, which she has done several times in the last couple of days and really hurt him at one point, and as he was attempting to get away and run, he caught her with his paw. Anyways, I got her on top of the counter, wet a paper towel, and started wiping the blood away to discover that the skin above her lip and the lip itself were somewhat gaping open. I pulled a popsicle out of the freezer in an attempt to get something cold on the area, and as soon as she saw that popsicle, she was fine, which is totally Olivia. I, however, was shaking like a leaf; that being said, it was just the two of us, so I had to stay calm. I also noticed scratches above her eye, going down across her nose; however, these weren't even a comparison in depth to the one on her lip (the picture to the left was taken once we got home from the hospital, but it shows the scratches across her eye and nose). I called the pediatrician and left a message to receive a callback from the after-hours service. Then I began calling Steve and my mom, yet neither of them were answering any of their phones. I wasn't sure if I was overreacting as a mom or if I really needed to run her to the emergency room, so I called Allison Wheeler and asked if I could come down to their house so that she and Ben could take a look for me: Thank you, Wheelers; it is good to know that you all are here if I need you while Steve is away. I threw Liv's dinner in a Tupperware, turned off the oven, fixed a cup of milk and a cup of juice, grabbed a few books, grabbed Pooh, and headed out the door. As I was gathering everything together, Opie was cowering under the table, so I did yell at him horribly. He knew that he had messed up before I even looked at him. At this point, Olivia was acting like nothing had happened, and she was just excited to put on her shoes and go somewhere. Before I got to Allison's, the on-call nurse called back and suggested that I head to the hospital because of where the wound was located. I bypassed Allison's, and we were off to Northside Forsyth; we sang the whole way there to keep both of us calm. At this point, I still had not gotten a hold of Steve. The wait in the ER was ridiculous, and the lady at the front desk was kind enough to get a doctor's assistant to look at Liv and advise us on the severity before checking us in. Because the cut went through her lip line, he did suggest that we stay and see a doctor, which we did, of course. Oh, and we finally got a hold of Steve, who was a bit of a wreck not knowing what was going on. I again was totally worried about her touching anything due to all of the sick people, but Olivia acted like she didn't have a care in the world. There was a boy, about 8 or so, sitting across from us, and Liv started waving frantically, saying, "Hi", and blowing kisses; darn it, she is going to flirt even with a bleeding lip while sitting in the emergency room. He was sweet and waved back at her; although, he had fallen off of his skateboard, hit his head, and was feeling a bit woozy. Liv was also excited about the turtles swimming around in the aquarium, and she ate a little of her dinner while sitting on my lap. To make the evening even better, she peed through her diaper while sitting on my lap, so I had to wash off her pants and dry them under the hand dryer, during which they called us back, and we missed it. Eventually, around 9:30, we did get called back to a room where Olivia contentedly read her books, emptied the wipes container about 100 times, and played with Pooh. Poor Steve was freaking out because he wasn't here and trying to get an immediate flight out of D.C., which I told him was unnecessary, so he will be home later this evening. I also got a hold of my mom, finally, and she offered to come up, but I told her that we were fine. I figured that they would just bandage it up and send us on our way. I cannot stress enough how wonderful Olivia was; we were way past bedtime and sitting for hours in one place, but she did not fuss at all; in fact, she hammed it up most of the time and kept herself entertained. I thought that it was a bit ironic that I grabbed her Doggies book totally by chance, so we barked like dogs and read the Doggies book over and over. A little before 10, we finally saw a doctor who gave us two options: 1. Leave it alone and hope it doesn't scar too badly or mess up her lip line - 2. Get stitches to help ensure that the lip line heals straight and minimizes scarring. I had no one to consult, so I just asked the doctor what she would do if it was her child, and she said that she would go with the stitches for cosmetic reasons because of Olivia's being a girl, so that is what we did. I hated it! They had to wrap her in a sheet to keep her hands down and bring in two other people to hold her head and body in place. They were as gentle as possible, and the doctor was great! They gave her a shot in her mouth to numb the area and then completed the stitches. She was obviously upset and crying, - she hates doctors even before this - but given everything, she did really well. She didn't fight too badly, and she even stopped crying halfway through. The part that made everyone in the room go, "Awww" was when she called out for Dada in the saddest voice as they were finishing up. The nurse asked if I wanted to leave, but I just couldn't leave her in there alone, so I held her hands through the sheet for part of it and then was told to sit down towards the end so that they could hand her off to me as soon as the last stitch was finished. She immediately lay on my shoulder and held on to my neck so tightly; I actually think that she started drifting off to sleep almost immediately because she was so still. We had to wait a little so as to make sure that there was no reaction to the numbing agent, and my mom showed up about 5 minutes before we were discharged. The nurse warned me that there might be a reaction to the anesthetic overnight, so I figured it would be a good idea for my mom to come and stay, just in case. Olivia immediately went to Grandma, and Grandma promised to get her a balloon on the way home, which she was asking for even before it was mentioned - the child has a one-track mind. The nurse came in and talked to me about the possibility of Liv having a nightmare from being held down, so that had me a little on edge all night. We finally got home around 11; as we were pulling in, she started calling for Opie - OOO,PPP - and she didn't seem the least bit upset or afraid of him; although, he did act afraid of me and knew he was in trouble. I also thought that she would be wiped out, but she was ready to party. She was super-excited about the balloon that Grandma stopped and got her, and she had a great time calling Aunt Mallory on Grandma's phone. I finally got her to sleep about 11:30, and although I was sure that she would wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare or soreness, she slept without any problems, except for the fact that she did not even sleep in one extra minute this morning. I stayed awake most of the night, listening to the monitor, so I think that I was more scarred than she. This morning, she woke up happy as could be, yelling balloon into the monitor: The child does love balloons. The doctor said that she may act a little off today from everything, but the doctor doesn't know Olivia. I haven't even felt the need to give her any Motrin for the pain because she is basically acting like nothing happened, and she is her normal, crazy, hyper self. She has even been giving Opie kisses and trying to play with him all morning, which is making me crazy and paranoid, but I'm glad she is not afraid of him. I am very lucky that she seems so resilient and that nothing, not even this fiasco, seems to bother her. We have an appointment with the pediatrician to get the stitches out next Tuesday, so now, I'm supposed to keep her lip dry, her face out of the water, her hands off of her lip, and her daring-little-self from bumping it again until next Tuesday - this should be interesting seeing as she is already back to climbing the walls. I did talk to a nurse this morning about Opie, and she said that a similar situation happened to her when her son was little and that our situation did not in any way sound malicious on Opie's part; therefore, she wouldn't even consider getting rid of Opie as long as he has never acted aggressively towards Olivia in the past, which he has not. That was another worry of mine last night, so I feel a bit better about that now. We may need to see a plastic surgeon once the lip starts healing to make sure that the lip line heals correctly, but it looks pretty good this morning. I am just lucky that I have such a tough cookie! Thank you so much for coming, Grandma; you really helped us both make it through the whole ordeal.

One more thing, the most beautiful bouquet of balloons just showed up on our door from a local florist; Liv will be so excited when she wakes up; thank you, Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Ian!

On a happier note, Steve got to meet with Senator Tom Daschle yesterday regarding SoloHealth.






Liv has a new favorite treat, chocolate covered, frozen bananas, which we made this past weekend when it was so hot. She works very hard to get all of the chocolate off!

Liv is continuing to take good care of her baby; she even feeds her snack and gives her juice.














Here are just some cute pictures that I took the other day, for which I can't think of a witty way to incorporate into the text today.

*Lastly, I am just too tired at this point to edit, so you get the blog as is today.

"The Sun'll Come Out..."

This past weekend was beautiful, for the sun finally came out to play, which made me so happy. Can you believe the weather in Georgia; it is crazy! We got about 4 inches of snow just last weekend, and then the temperature got up to 68 degrees this weekend, and now, they are predicting a few snow flurries this Wednesday. I wonder if it is this crazy everywhere; for some reason, I doubt it.

Anyways, the weekend was beautiful, and we took full advantage. On Saturday, Mom, Dad, Opie, and I headed to Sims Lake Park in Suwanee. I had such a great time playing on the playground, going down the slide, and climbing the stairs while holding on to the railing like a big kid. I did not, however, like the swings or the little girl who kept trying to hug me and carry me around the top of the play fort. I kept giving her the nastiest looks, and I was finally able to escape her grip as she was trying to carry me down the stairs while Mom anxiously asked her to put me down before she dropped me. I know that I am adorable, but doesn't she know that it is a bit rude to violate my personal space? Okay, I'll let the bad memories dissipate now so that I can get back to my beautiful day. After playing on the playground with Dad, we took Opie for a walk around the lake, and I got to see real ducks. Did you know that not all ducks are yellow? That was news to me; although, I am pretty sure that I was looking at geese this time! There were tons of kids at the park, and like always, I made friends with several of the boys and ignored the other little girls. One of the little boys, Lyric, loved Opie. I think that Opie was even more excited about the park than I was. I am so excited that spring is around the corner and that pool season isn't far behind. After the park, we stopped by the Publix on the way home, and to my dismay, it was not our normal Publix, and they wouldn't even give me a balloon. The nerve of some people; I mean, I'm the Publix baby - you should recognize! To make matters worse, I wet through my pants, - oops - so Mom took them off when we got to the car, and then Dad accidentally snapped my skin in the car seat buckle. Dad felt so bad, and Mom sat in the back with me the rest of the way home to make me feel better. I forgive you, Dada; I'm a tough cookie. It was a wonderful day in the park gone wrong! I was still very happy to see the sun, and the park definitely outweighed the Publix mishaps.

Here's me at the same park on the same rockin' car almost exactly a year ago, March 6, 2009, versus me this past weekend. Time really does fly! Let's just say that I wasn't so keen on the rockin' car this time, so I didn't really give Mom the chance to get a good picture for the comparison. Also, shouldn't I have more hair to show for a year's worth of growth? This is getting ridiculous.

On Sunday, I got to wear my hair in a little fohawk - that's right, at least I have enough hair for a fohawk now. Dad, Mom, and I went out to lunch, and when we got home, I helped Dad with some home projects, like hanging pictures and fixing the wooden seam that separates the hardwood floors from the carpet. I am such a good little helper! Later that day, Grandma, Aunt Mallory, and her friend, Chris, came over to see me. Grandma, Dad, and I played outside while Mom prepped dinner and hung out with Aunt Mallory and her friend. It was a very nice Sunday.

Yesterday, Mom and I went to our Publix, and Mrs. Suzanna made up for Saturday's cruddy Publix by letting me pick out my balloon and help blow it up. Mom hadn't even gotten me into the cart when I spotted Mrs. Suzanne and took off running full speed towards her. Mrs. Suzanna is my favorite Publix friend; although, they all give me tons of special attention every Monday, which I don't mind in the least. We also went by Old Navy to return the maternity kid jeans that Grandma got me - they totally had the blue maternity band around the top - so as to get some new shoes and sunglasses. I do like my other clothes, Grandma. As I was roaming around, I came across a little bench that was just my size and a dog that talked to me when I pressed the button. Now, that is a fun shopping discovery, oh, and the sunglasses are super cute too.











Last Friday, Mom and I went by Roswell High School to visit some of Mom's old co-workers. I was so excited to see Mrs. Hillegas, who loves to carry me around and show me off to everyone, and Mrs. Bright, who lets me type on her computer. Quite honestly, I love all of the attention that Mom's friends and co-workers give to me. I even blew a high school boy a kiss as he walked past me, and he blew one right back. He couldn't resist my charm; can you blame him? Mom was really worried about my touching anything for fear of high school germs, but when she wasn't looking, I ran up to a locker and licked it before she could grab me. I can't help it; something on that locker looked quite appealing. Mrs. Spradlin decided to nickname me Locker Licker, and then she went and got some crackers to lure me away from the apparently appetizing lockers. I just don't get why Mom was so grossed out: I suck on my own feet for goodness sakes; how could a locker be that much worse? Just so you know, licking your own foot is way funnier, as you can see below.



Mom and I have been thoroughly enjoying the Winter Olympics over the last week or so. If naked coffee table running was an Olympic sport, I would definitely win gold! I can really move now. I love to run around the house naked; another thing for which I have developed a new interest is my baby. Before I was born, Aunt Stephanie got me the same baby doll that Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has, and I have recently decided that I want Mom to hold me while I hold my baby whenever we are upstairs in the playroom. I pat my baby on the butt and give her kisses while Mom rocks me and gives me kisses; I have also, just yesterday, started to carry my baby around with me while patting her on the back or rocking her. Sometimes, I prefer that Mom hold the baby on one side of her lap while I sit on the other side. Mom and I did have to talk about not poking the baby in the eye, as well as how to treat the baby nicely. Maybe, I am trying to send Mom a signal, or maybe, I've just been really intrigued by babies ever since I met Baby Monroe.










Mom hasn't been feeling well for the last week, so today, she dropped me off at playgroup while she headed over to the Minute Clinic. Mama's got to get well so that we can go see Baby Monroe again! Thank you so, so much, Mrs. Lindsi, Mrs. Sindy, Mrs. Alisha, Mrs. Olga, and Mrs. Tina for watching me today. We have such great mommy friends! It was also great to see all of my little friends whom I have missed over the last several weeks.

To end, I finally got the love part down, so "I love you", and I hope you all have a nice, somewhat relaxing week - just do what I do and read a good book. Ciao!

Snow Day, Love Day, Birthday...Fun, Fun, Fun!

This past Friday was so exciting; it snowed more than it has ever snowed in my entire life! The snow started coming down really hard while Mom and I were having lunch with the Mollettas, and it didn't stop until late Friday night. By Saturday morning, we had about 4 inches of snow; I know that may not sound like a lot to you northerners, but to us southerners, that's a ton! It was a little difficult to play out in the snow on Friday because it was really coming down, but I gave it my all and had a ball. On Saturday, Mom taught me how to make snowballs, and we watched the neighbors make a snowman. I even figured out that if I throw snow into the air, it almost feels like it is snowing again. I had too much fun! I didn't even mind when I fell over and Mom continued to take pictures instead of helping me up: Sometimes, I wonder about her priorities. Even Opie loved the snow; he rolled in it and jumped all over the place. Snow is definitely growing on me. That being said, I am ready for spring now.

After nap on Saturday, which was my 16-month birthday for those of you who are counting, Grandma came over, and the three of us headed to Miss Parker's first birthday party. Unfortunately, Dad had to work, so he didn't get to go with us. As soon as we got to Miss Parker's house, I saw all of the balloons and started shouting, "Balloon, Balloon!" Mrs. Joanne promised me a balloon to take home, so I was able to tear myself away to check out the party festivities. Miss Parker looked so cute with her pigtails and polka dot dress. The highlight of the party was definitely the ball pit. Some of the kids were afraid of it, but I thought it was awesome! I immediately jumped in and started playing; I even threw myself over the side a couple of times, which I thought was hysterical. I can definitely play rough, and several parents took notice; watch out for Wild Liv! Every time a ball rolled out of the pit, I made sure to get it and put it back, and I made sure that all toys that didn't belong in the pit were put back in their rightful places; I like things orderly - hmmm, I wonder from whom I get this attribute. I had a great time playing with Parker, her cousin, and her friends. Mrs. Joanne and Mr. John threw a great party. Miss Parker thoroughly enjoyed her cake; although, she did use a spoon at one point, which is a total 1st birthday no-no. I helped Parker open her gifts before heading straight back to the ball pit, which is where I spent a large portion of the party. Due to a shortened nap and tons of fun, I finally started to crash, but I still didn't leave the ball pit until Mom drug me out to take me home. Mrs. Joanne gave me three balloons! As I carried my balloons to the door, Mr. John jokingly asked if I wanted to take a couch or their car as well: Geesh, Mr. John, it's just three balloons, and those three balloons made my weekend. I had an amazing time at the birthday party, and I want to thank the Louiseus for having me. Happy 1st Birthday, Miss Parker!

By the time we got home, Dad was walking in the door - Yay! I didn't get to see him very much last week, so I was really excited when he got home. Grandma gave me my Valentine's Day gift complete with giant crayons, a coloring book, number magnets for the refrigerator, and flash cards. I love the magnets and the crayons; I'll figure out the flash cards later. Opie actually ate one of my crayons - dirty dog. That night Grandma and I stayed home and played while Dad and Mom went out for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner at Morton's, which turned out to be not so great and way overpriced for those of you who are thinking about going sometime, but they had a wonderful time nonetheless. I guess Grandma was my Valentine and an awesome Valentine at that.






















Sunday was actual Valentine's Day, and I received several special Valentines from my closest friends: Lucas, Carla, Jackson, and Boris. Mrs. Allison gave me a pink polka dot purse, and Lucas got me some really neat bubbles for Valentine's Day, which made me say, "Bubble" totally unprompted: I love me some bubbles. Boris gave me a little Valentine's dog, and Jackson gave me a lollipop, which I thoroughly enjoyed on Sunday morning. Grandma and Dad had to teach me how to suck on the lollipop, instead of biting it; I think I did a pretty good job with it. I even got a really neat Valentine from Aunt Stephanie and a Valentine from Great Grandma Jenkins. I had sent vintage Valentines to my closest friends and family earlier in the week, and I gave my Daddy his Valentine's gift that morning; Dada is definitely my forever Valentine. I even got to spend the day as a Valentine's flower, and oh yeah, my shirt definitely says 50% Mommy, 50% Daddy, 100% Perfection - that's right. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone in my life whom I love and who loves me!














Extras:

Last Wednesday, Mom and I met Dad for lunch. Dad worked a lot last week, so I only got to see him on Wednesday; therefore, Mom and I made a point to spend as much time as possible with him on his one semi-free day. I miss Dad when he is gone during the week, but I am always super excited when he comes back!

Last Thursday evening, Mom and I ran into Mrs. Allison and Lucas at the grocery store while we were grabbing a few items for dinner. I got my balloon, of course, and then we did some joint grocery shopping. Lucas and I were really excited to see each other since we haven't seen each other in awhile; poor Lucas had pneumonia, so I couldn't go near him for a couple of weeks. Towards the end of our shopping trip, I got to ride in the cart with Lucas. We always have a great time when we are together; it doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing. Unfortunately, he woke up that night with a stomach virus, so here's hoping I don't get that. You're worth the risk, Lucas!

Around the house, I have just been helping Mom with the cleaning, catching up on some reading, doing some dancing, and playing with my new fridge magnets. I have become quite the little helper, and I help with all of the daily chores, like sweeping, dusting, doing the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, picking up, etc. I have also learned the words to a couple of books, so I read those books, as well as others, all day long. I know that Ready, Set, Go has the word set on every page, so I tend to think that all books include the word set. I can also "read" most of my Peek-A-Who book, which just proves my genius. I love reading!



Today, my God Mom, Kate, sent me real Mardi Gras beads all the way from Louisiana, which is where she now lives. They are awesome and really heavy. I spent about 45 minutes before bed wearing them around the house and saying, "Be-u", which is me language for beautiful. I can definitely pull off Mardi Gras beads; although, Dad has already restricted me from ever going to actual Mardi Gras.

By the way, I (point to my eye)...ou (point to you); I've almost got the love part down.