What a day! Our first ER trip.

The day started off EARLY! Graeme woke up at 4:45 am and finally fell back asleep at 5:45. My alarm was set for 6:00. I should have known that it would not improve. While I was getting ready, Brian said, "Once you drop Clare and Ian off at school, you need to come home and relax." I know he meant well, but really? Grame's birthday party is on Saturday and the preparations are just coming together. So, I rushed to get everyone ready and out the door to preschool while I also finished "cleaning up" for the cleaning lady. We were running late from the get go, but I took a deep breath and told myself it was no big deal (I'm saying this more frequently now) figuring if we go to school late it wouldn't be the end of the world. We were there in plenty of time. Ian is always so excited to see Mrs. Brigitta and Mrs. Maria happily hugged Mrs. Brigitta and went into his classroom. I dropped Clare off and off Graeme and I went to tackle my list: 1) the Allen outlets - 15 minutes away to exchange a sweater, a hat for Clare and some boots and shoes, 2) Bed Bath and Beyond to buy Kcups and browse for our Thanksgiving table, 3) Joann Fabrics & Crafts for some things I need for the party. I planned to meet my friend, Shelley at Joann and then grab lunch with her.

Guess what? I made it to the parking lot of the outlet center when my phone rang. It was 9:40. My heart started pounding as I saw the number. It was Preschool. The director was calling to tell me that Ian had fallen on the playground. She thought he might need stitches in his chin. I am thankful that we were still in the car. I turned around and headed back to school. That was the longest 15 minutes. During my drive, I called the pediatrician who directed me to a nearby urgent care/ER, Brian to give him an update, and the ER to tell them we were coming. Brian was not answering his phone. It turns out he was on a conference call, so I had to call the receptionist at his office to ask her to find him and get a message to him to call me. (Sidenote: What did we do before cell phones?) The doors at preschool are locked after drop off, so I had to go through the church office - identify myself and run through the massive church building to get to Ian.

Between the time of the director's call and my arrival, they had fire drill and Ian was able to stay inside and snuggle with Mrs. Brigitta which I'm sure made him feel better. Since it ran into playground time, he was actually back out playing. The director took me to find him. Sweet boy was hopping around and perfectly happy as he came down the hall with his class. He was so excited about his Toy Story bandaid. I looked at his chin and it didn't look that bad. Part of me thought that he was fine. I went ahead and took him to the ER and now I'm glad I did. By the time we got there, it looked worse. The triage nurse took one look and said - stitches. Thankfully, the doctor had kids and assured me that Dermabond would do the trick. He was great - he numbed it with a topical anesthetic and then glued it. We were in and out in about 30 minutes.

The purple is the glue. The cut is about 3/4" long. It's just a thin line. The photo exaggerates it.

So, we went on with the day. Of course, we skipped the outlets and made a pit stop at Sonic for a slushie and headed to Joann to meet Shelley. I managed to get most of what I needed. We grabbed burgers at In N Out and then it was time to get Clare at school.

We went straight home. As I turned down our street, I realized our cleaning lady was still at our house. I don't like bringing the kids in when she's here because they distract her and I feel like we're in the way. I drove around for a few minutes and stopped at a neighbor's to drop something off and came back home. By then, she was leaving. I unloaded Graeme and Clare and most of our stuff. I went to get Ian out and took one look at him. He had peeled the glue off of his chin!

I gathered a few necessities - the Leap Pad, snacks, drinks and lollipops and loaded everyone back into the car. I called the pediatrician again and she told me to go back to the ER and plan on stitches! I was not happy - the thought of putting Ian through that was so upsetting. We headed back there and I called on the way to tell them we were on our way again. We got there and hardly waited. As soon as we walked into the back, the nurse from earlier took one look at us and said, "I thought you might be back for stitches." Great!

Well, the ER doctor gave us the option of stitches or more dermabond with steristrips. I opted for the latter and am hoping I can keep him busy enough to leave it alone. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for about an hour. That killed some time. So far, cross my fingers, after 4 hours, he's only taken the bandage off. I put a new Cars 2 band aid on it and he's left it alone. The plan is for me to lay down with him until he falls asleep so I can keep him from pulling at it. And I'll have to keep him busy tomorrow. The doctor said if I can keep him from bothering for a few days, it should be fine.

Sweet boy was wiped out. The bandage was more for deterrence than need.

 

Picture Day!

Clare and Ian had picture day at school. I took their pictures before we left that morning. I truly hope that the photographer had better luck than I did!

A Day in the Garden

We have wanted to go to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden since we moved here almost three years ago. We finally had the opportunity to meet our friends, the Ittigsons, there for Autumn at the Arboretum. 

Each year they decorate part of the gardens with a full pumpkin village. It is incredible and is mentioned on a regular basis in Southern Living magazine. We were so excited go because the Chihuly glass exhibit was also happening at the same time. The glass sculptures were amazing!

The gardens were packed even though we arrived early on a Sunday morning. I tried desperately to take pictures without strangers in them, but didn't have much luck.

I wish I had taken some better pictures of the actual Pumpkin Village. Hopefully, next year we will be able to go on a day that isn't crowded. I took over 100 photos when we went - these are just a few...

Ian spent 20 minutes running laps through the hay maze. By the end, he was stepping on the bales to get where he wanted to go.

This was our only family shot of the whole day. People were lined up to take pictures in Cinderella's carriage, so Brian tried to get a quick shot. 

We took a quick shot of Graeme while we were all getting dressed before heading out - our little mad scientist.

Pumpkin Pickin'

We took a trip to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Village to pick out a pumpkin. I'd always heard great things about it. They are supposed to have lots of photo ops, food carts, hayrides, bounce houses and a train. We accidentally ended up at the bootleg patch next door. Apparently, the real Pumpkin Village also has a charity patch where volunteers work to raise money for their organizations. So, we made the best of it and ended up having fun. The venue was almost the same, just not as nice, with hot dogs and turkey legs instead of food carts and limited photo ops other than piles of pumpkins. We did get some great pictures and the kids had a ball.

Graeme had so much fun playing in a pile of pumpkins. I think he wanted to eat this one.

On this day, Mister was totally hammin' it up for the camera.

Sweet girl was driving an antique tractor.

Ian discovered the hay maze and did not want to do anything else. I think he spent about 25 minutes running through it repeatedly. Of course, Clare enjoyed it as well.

We decided to buy our pumpkins somewhere else - more on those later.

On the Move

Sweet Graeme is on the move and has been since early October. Army crawling is his current mode of transportation, but he is starting to go on all fours for a couple of feet before losing interest and taking the easy road. He's also pulling up on everything and cruising along the furniture. It won't be long before he starts working off his chubby legs.

Love these HAPPY boys!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We took the family to the State Fair of Texas a few weeks ago. Clare and Ian had a ball. Graeme enjoyed it as well, but from the stroller - poor guy always gets the raw deal. AND we took no pictures of him :(. There were a few limitations on the rides which was frustrating. Ian could not ride anything he wanted to, even with a parent. We finally found some cars that he could drive as long as I rode with him. As you can see, I'm holding on to his shoulders from behind because it was so jerky I thought he might conk his little head.

Clare rode some whales while practicing her beauty queen wave. I don't even remember her doing it. That's my girl!

Both kids were able to sit in the driver's seat of a fire truck and talk to the firemen.

Since this is Texas - instead of the typical corn dogs - we ate burritos for lunch next to the Cotton Bowl. Then, on the way out, we stopped for ice cream and the obligatory funnel cake. (My family knows that I don't go to any outdoor festival or event without getting a funnel cake.) When it was all said and done, we were glad we went, but decided that it was something we could do every other year. Taking three kids is an quite an endeavor.