Listen, I am pretty careful when it comes to my babies, but I also don't keep them in plastic bubbles or require them to wear padding around the house. I set up obstacle courses that involve walking on chairs and balancing on couches. I sit my bigger baby on blankets and run around the house while pulling her on it (and will probably do the same with my littler baby once she's my bigger baby!). I set my babies on the counter to be close to me while I'm in the middle of chopping, cooking, eating, etc. But all of these things are done under complete supervision and require very good listening skills. If we are not listening or cooperating, the fun stops. And it's back to normal living...with no obstacle courses, no flying carpet rides, and no baby bottoms on our counter tops. BO-RING.
I also carry both of my babies - one in each arm - and Kate and I call this my "challenge". One day I'm going to wake up and not have an arm full of babies so I am all about these challenges. Unfortunately, last night we had a little mishap. And I kind of blame myself for setting unclear expectations.
You see, it was time to go upstairs and go to bed. I had Maya in my arms and I was sitting on the couch
gently reminding bargaining with Kate that it was time to go up for bed. In an instant she hopped on my back to give me a challenge. I am up for babies in my arms. I am NOT up for a nearly four month old on my front and a just turned three year old on my back. I stood up almost exactly as she spider-monkeyed me and immediately asked her to hop down...several times. I thought for sure she would listen but she wasn't. And we all fell down.
Literally.
All of us. (I could've titled this post "London Bridges".)
I was able to protect my front baby. She didn't make a peep. She just looked at me like
what'd you do that for? But I was not able to protect my back baby, my little spider monkey. I don't even remember what happened to me but I didn't care about any of my pain anyway. I was too worried about my big girl who was crying those big tears and big cries that you hear when you know something
really hurts. When I turned around, I clearly saw a mark on the left side of her face that had just missed her eye.
Thank goodness for that. She had bumped her head right on the corner of our little table in our living room. And it was swelling up big time.
Question: Why do these things happen right before bedtime?
I put Maya down and immediately went to tend to Kate. I iced her bump which was now a swollen, purple-y bruise and I called the pediatrician after hours because head injuries scare me and I'm that Mom. I just want to know what I need to look out for and what is/isn't normal from their mouths, not from something I can look up online.
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| My poor baby. (Sitting on top of the counter for examination too...) |
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I jerry-rigged my robe tie with a ziplock of ice to keep pressure and cold
on the spot. |
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| Smiles from my girl despite the circumstances. |
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| After icing, after staying up an extra hour, more bruising and swelling. |
The on call pediatrician was not very kind and basically told me that she would probably get a black eye and that it would look worse before it looked better. Kate stayed up with me an extra hour just to make sure we were clear of any concussions or anything scary like that. And then we went to bed.
When we woke up the next morning, Kate's eye was definitely swollen and bruised. Girlfriend hit the table, but the table hit harder.
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| My black-eyed beauty. |
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| But that didn't stop us from snuggling with sis! |
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| And kissing/nibbling on her ear! |
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After nap, it was definitely turning into a real shiner.
Her first official one. |
Of course this happens when Brian is out of town. I should mention that Brian is [totally] more of the careful/cautious parent who tells
me to "be careful" when we have obstacle courses up and blanket rides on the hardwood floors and tushes on the tables...
...So I immediately think he is going to think this is a result of my careless, irresponsible behavior and try to defend myself over the phone. Fortunately, I think he got the right story and I think he understands that accidents happen...
Of course you never want to see any of your babies get hurt, but it's unrealistic to think that they won't. It breaks my heart seeing my baby in pain and if I could do anything to rewind five seconds or take the pain away, I would. But I can't, so we will accept this shiner for what it is and thank our lucky stars that it is no worse. My poor, sweet baby.
On a completely separate note, Maya is SUPER MOBILE. She wants to MOVE! It is not uncommon that I set her under her play mat and find her on the hardwood floors like this after I run into the kitchen.
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| Oh, and Kate is nearly sitting on the table that hit her too... |
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I feel bad because it seems so uncomfortable, but she doesn't
complain. I think she's proud of herself. I'm proud of her too, but I have
no clue how she gets over there that fast! |
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| And watercolors for the win because painting just makes everything better! |
I'm hoping this little incident clears up quickly. We've had a rough few weeks with "incidences" so we could use some down time from getting hurt. Get better soon, my love! And, Maya Bear, no crawling just yet!!
