Emergency Room Visit

Yesterday was Tuesday, December 13th, 2011. I painted a wall in our hallway. Then John and Hayden drove to Omaha and I was watching the store. About 4:30 a lady came in to look at futon covers and buy a futon. A little before 5, Stephanie comes downstairs screaming bloody murder. Her hand was covered in blood. She had cut her thumb with a knife. She said she tripped in the kitchen and fell on a knife that was on the floor. (just to let you know ~ there was no knife on the floor or on the counter when I went downstairs.)

Anyway, I took her into the bathroom and tried to wash her hand and stop the bleeding and it just wasn't working. What I could see of the cut (before the blood covered it again), it looked pretty deep. The customer actually came up to me then and said she would come back another day to make her purchase. So I called Paula who was out shopping and told her to get back home to watch Meredith and Philip, I closed the store, and drove Steffi to the emergency room.

We got there at 5 and we didn't have to wait at all. They ushered us into the triage room, then to a patient room. All in all, we were there about an hour and a half. She got 6 stitches. And a giant bandage on her left thumb. Poor little sweetheart!

I never did really find out what happened but she was with Phil in the kitchen when it happened so God only knows what really went on. She tried to wash her thumb off herself upstairs and only came down when she couldn't take care of it herself.

At 11:30, she was crying in bed because the anesthesia wore off and her thumb hurt. I had to force her to drink the children's Tylenol and she fell right back to sleep.

This morning she didn't want to go to school. I kept her home because I knew she would be in a lot of pain today and I was afraid she would hurt herself worse at school. Actually, we didn't stay home, Grandma took us out to Cracker Barrel and then we went to WalMart, Menard's, and a couple other quick places. (We bought Children's Chewable Tylenol at WalMart and she seems to like that better.

So ~ for anybody keeping track...this would be the 3rd emergency room visit this year for our family. Twice for Stephanie and once for me. Stephanie has only been to the E Room twice in her life. It would have been 3 but when she fell down the steps at my Grandma's house, she recovered faster than I did.

- - - -

Oh, when we left the E Room last night, I decided to get Burger King for the kids since it was late and I didn't feel like cooking. Stephanie said she'd rather have King Kong Burger. I advised her I wasn't going to drive all the way out of the way for King Kong Burger then. She said, "But I was in the hospital! and I've only been to King Kong Burger once in my entire life!"

Quotes

Changing out the quotes on the sidebar today.

The last ones I picked for Steffi were:

"When someone tells me "no," it doesn't mean I can't do it, it simply means I can't do it with them." - Karen E. Quinones Miller

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different." - Coco Chanel

Being strong-willed is not enough, however. You also have to be hard on yourself. Someone who was strong-willed but self-indulgent would not be called determined. Determination implies your willfulness is balance by discipline." - Paul Graham

The Children's Museum

Steffi has been upset for awhile now. The older kids get to go to birthday parties and play dates and even sleepovers and she doesn't get invited anywhere!!!!

So when both Hayden and Meredith got invited to the same party, I decided to take Stephanie and Philip somewhere too.

Then, Meredith got sick and couldn't go to the party and Steffi decided she wanted to go to the Children's Museum but it closed in less than an hour so we had to wait until the next day. She was not pleased.

Then, that day, Meredith told her how much she wished she could go to the museum too and Steffi asked me if everybody could go so they wouldn't be sad. And, at first I thought that was an ok idea. But ~ then Stephanie still would not get to do anything special herself so I ended up leaving the other three kids home with John and just taking Stephanie.

She had a great time!

She loved having Mommy all to herself.

Mommy thought is was pretty nice too!

She got to do what SHE wanted.

I hope it was just what she needed.

Scarred for Life

Philip slammed Stephanie into a wall this weekend. She has a scrape on her cheek and on that little ear flap thingie.

Today she didn't want to go to school. She didn't want to go with a scar on her face!

I took her anyway, of course, but I did walk her in and told the teacher what happened and why she didn't want to be there.

Coincidentally, the teacher had a scar on her arm that she got this weekend also. Stephanie felt better after she showed her that.

SIX YEARS OLD!!!!

My baby girl turned 6 years old today!

We took doughnuts to school to share with her class.

After work John & I took the three younger kids with us on a delivery. (Hayden is staying overnight with a friend.) Then we stopped and got something to eat ~ at the gas station?!? Apparently, we are having candy bars and sodas for supper.

She opened her presents. All 6 of them. Because she's six. (This is not a tradition I'm going to carry on with but it happened to work out this time!) Two 'My Little Ponies', a 'Hello Kitty' BINGO game, a gumball machine, and 2 gumball refills.

Now Meredith and Stephanie are playing 'Hello Kitty' BINGO.

Philip is playing with Roscoe ~ that won't end well.

Allergies

Stephanie has spent the past few nights coughing in bed. I gave her some cough medicine and it helped a little but it made her drowsy this morning.

Then I spent the day sneezing and wondered if maybe she has allergies? Duh!

So I got us both some allergy medicine. The only problem is it's a pill that you have to swallow. It's a little tiny pill but she's never done that before.

Not a problem. She swallowed it in one try and looked at me like "what's the big deal?"

This will make my life easier.

Is it bad that I want to give Meredith one just to see if she can swallow pills too?

Being Happy

Steffi just told me....

"When my ninja pig hatches, I'll be HAPPY!"

Then...

"Oh, I forgot. I already am happy."

TBall Game 7/30/2011

Last game of the Season!

(Actually ~ last TWO games of the season

one right after the other!)

Butterfly

The Team Photo!

Go, Lasers!

She got a medal!

T Ball Game = 7/16/11

A Dog's Tongue

Stephanie was watching Roscoe...

"Ewww, Mom! He's licking his w**ner!"

Yes, dogs do that.

"Is he cleaning it?"

Yes.

"Then how does he clean his tongue?"

TBall Game 6/18/11

Warming Up.

(I don't know why this picture turned.

It's not sideways on my computer.

Just tilt your head to the right.)

Get the ball, Steffi!

Look ~ she even watches the ball leave the bat.

I was never any good at that.

TBall Game 6/11/11

She's only five

and this is her first year playing

but she has spurts of intense concentration.

I think she will be a formidable

softball player

one day.

Zoo Field Trip

At the elementary school the kids go to, First Grade and Kindergarten goes to the Children's Zoo. Since Meredith, Stephanie, and Philip are all about 2 years apart, that means I get to go for 6 years in a row. We are now on the 3rd year.

Stephanie's class went to the zoo and I took Philip along. One of the grandmother's of another classmate and I got teamed up and we had 5 kids between the 2 of us. You would think that was pretty good odds, wouldn't you?

They did pretty well actually. The only thing I don't get is why they schedule 2 hours to go thru this place. With kids, it only takes a little over an hour, then you have to find stuff to occupy them. They do have things to play on but 2 hours is too long!

I didn't take many pictures because children kept disappearing on me, but here are a few.

This peacock was strutting his stuff right when we walked in.

The penguins are new this year. I thought they were fun to watch. The kids agreed with me - for about 3 minutes.

This statue occupied them longer than the penguins. Unfortunately, the butterfly exhibit doesn't open until after Memorial Day so we've never gotten to see it. That's a giant caterpillar statue. At least 8 kids can fit on it without fighting.

I just thought this guy was funny.

She's pouting because the other kids wanted to play in the giant eggs too.

Don't forget the flamingoes!

And this guy was at the end of the zoo. I believe his other wing is broken so he can't fly and wouldn't survive in the wild but he looks really regal here, doesn't he?

When we walked out of the zoo, I ran into some old friends ~ Theresa and Janet Christen. (Well, they're married now.) They had Janet's 2 little boys with them. The kids in my group descended on them like vultures because they were having snacks. It was very nice to see them even though I was thoroughly distracted trying to keep track of those kids I was in charge of!

What We Learned in Kindergarten This Year

Tball Game 6/4/11

First Game

Batter UP!

Running to Second

Outfield

Then ~ A game stopping distraction!

See it?

This deer ran all the way around the fence.

Meredith and Philip didn't even see it.

(Deer by the 1st white car.)

Mom! Did you see me hit the ball?

(She has to make sure I'm watching her.)

The Panhandler

John took Stephanie with him to the Harley store the other day to look around. Stephanie found a little stuffed animal she really wanted and John told her maybe she could get it.

She was wandering around and when she came back, she had 60 cents.

Apparently, she was begging money from people so she could buy her animal.

John told her to go give the money back to whoever she got it from.

So she went off but she came back with the money again. So he sent her off again.

This time she came back without the coins.

But as they were walking out, they came across a guy who was looking strangely at her, then he'd look at his hand, then back at her.

John asked him if she had just come up and handed him 60 cents. And she had.

She couldn't find the person who gave her the money and she wanted to do what her daddy told her so she just gave it to someone else.

She got her 60 cents back. With strict orders not to go soliciting funds from other patrons again.

It Must be Summertime

On Monday (2 days ago) I picked the kids up from school and found Stephanie putting sunscreen all over her face. (Why? I have no idea.) Anyway it was the Banana Boat/Baby Faces sunscreen that I have been using on the girls for years. I've been buying this kind since they are allergic to most others I've tried.

Tuesday morning, Stephanie's face is bright red. Just all in the places where she was putting the sunscreen. I gave her some allergy medicine and sent her to school with a note explaining that the rash was from the sunscreen. The nurse called me afterwards and agreed to let her stay in school since it was from the sunscreen and not some weird unidentified rash.

Today, her face was still a little red and it now is on her neck too. I figured it was still from the sunscreen but why is it taking so long to go away? Probably because I didn't realize she was going to have a reaction from the sunscreen that never bothered her before so I didn't wash it off immediately. (I wonder now if they maybe changed their formula?)

So I took her to the doctor. He agreed it was probably just from the sunscreen and then started to spread. But she wasn't contagious so she got to go back to school in time for her field trip this afternoon. We did get a prescription though to help her body get rid of this rash faster.

We're going to try "Aveeno" sunscreen now. I put it on both her and Meredith the other day and neither one broke out. If that doesn't work, I may have to look into 'natural' sunscreens. Or just keep them inside all summer.

Fabulous

Stephanie wants to grow her bangs out. They are hanging in her eyes now so I braided them and held them back with a barrette.

So then she asks, "Do I look fabulous?"

Injured

Last night Stephanie tripped and hit her eye on the corner of the toy box.
These pictures were taken this morning. I had once thought about taking pictures of all her injuries she suffers but then I would only have time to post pictures of her injuries and you all would forget I even have other kids. (And I can't bring myself to take a picture of her toenail which split halfway down ~ it makes my feet hurt just thinking about it.)

But look how gorgeous she is when she smiles for real!

Pickled Eggs

This girl will try anything once.

She didn't eat the yolk (never does) but now she also likes pickled eggs.

Grandpa didn't think she would try it.

Artwork Wednesday - Butterfly Edition

Artwork Wednesday - Megamind Edition

We watched "Megamind" last weekend. The kids all loved it. So did John & I.

This is Megamind.

This is Minion.

(and a heart)

Whistle

Stephanie can whistle. She's been able to do it for several months now. Not sure if I ever posted that before or not. And I'm too lazy to look now.

Pedestrian Knowledge

I took Stephanie with me to pick up Philip this evening. Her class is learning about street signs. She pointed out the yellow sign with the people walking on it and told me that it was a "Pedestrian Crossing" sign. She even said it right. She told me that meant people who are walking. She said when she walks on the sidewalk then she is a pedestrian. Then she looked at me and asked, "Can you say 'pedestrian?'" So I did and she said, "Good job!"

Quotes

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be." - Shel Silverstein

"I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." — Marilyn Monroe

"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." - ROMANS 7:18B

~ and ~

her new quote:

"When someone tells me "no," it doesn't mean I can't do it, it simply means I can't do it with them."
— Karen E. Quinones Miller

~ if that doesn't sum Stephanie up perfectly, then I don't know what does!

The Clothes Horse

Annette sent me a box! I love getting boxes from Annette ~ THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!

Anyway, inside the box was a bunch of girl clothes. Stephanie thought she won the lottery! "Ooooh, I want that shirt and that skirt and that. . . " I tried to remind her that her sister should probably get a few of the new clothes also since they were actually Meredith's size. "Oh. OK. She can have that one. But this one is mine!"

So here she is. . . wearing her new skirt and her old flamingo shirt.

Apparently she put the shirt on backwards because she didn't think the flamingo went well with the flowers in the skirt. I wonder if her teacher noticed. I didn't - until after I picked her up from school.

I love this girl! She certainly has a style all her own!

Help! Need New Pants!

We went thru 3 pairs of pants today to find some that fit. And these are still tight. I guess I'm going to have to start buying bigger sizes and hemming them up or something.

Smooches

Philip likes to give Stephanie a kiss good-night.

She is less than gracious about it.

"But he gives slobbery kisses!"

So he climbs in her bed and she giggles while he tries to kiss her.

Tonight he got her and she says, "Gross! I just took a shower! Now I need another shower."

Put Your Shoes Away!

Steffi was sitting by my on the couch. She kicked off her shoes onto the floor.

I told her to put them away.

She moved them into the middle of the floor. (Her Daddy is a bad influence.)

I told her to put them away.

So she did. Or so I thought.

Later I walked past her bedroom door and the shoes were sitting right outside the door.

I told her to put them away.

Then I watched her while she put them in the closet.

Fashion Show

I should really do a photo series of what Stephanie wears to school every day.

The other day she wore a black and white striped long-sleeved shirt with blue pants and a yellow and black dress over that.

Eating Ninjas

John put the girls to bed tonight.

My Aunt Joyce had given us some boxes of toys that she didn't need anymore and Stephanie found a bunch of teeny tiny ninjas which, of course, she had to take to bed with her.

So when John put the girls to bed, he pretended to eat one of them. All I heard was: "Don't eat my ninjas!" and "I'm going to tell Mommy!"

She actually came out of the room crying to tell me he was really eating her ninjas. I told her he was pretending and she was just sure he was really eating them.

Daddy had to come out and show her the trick so she would calm down.

A Stephanie-izm

Driving home from Hayden's basketball game, Stephanie says, "I wish I was a bird so I could go around pecking people."

Say What?

Stephanie asked me today if she could have some pear nuts.

What????

Pear nuts.

She finally had to show me in the pantry.

PEANUTS!