Emily's 3rd ER visit in 3 years...

We seem to be averaging out to 1/year, although trips 1 and 2 occurred in the same night, just different hospitals. Oddly enough, all 3 have been to ER's that are far away from our house (like hours and hours).

This weekend was YAR, which is a big youth retreat we take our kids to every year. Chuck and I are part of the leadership team and this year I decided to take a personal day so we could go down and help get ready on Friday. Friday afternoon Em and I were getting ready to go from one building to another so I went into a side room to grab our coats. Em came running towards me as I was holding open the door, and as she typically does, got to running to fast and fell forward. Unfortunately this time, she broke her fall with the edge of the door and her head. I quick scooped her up and went to find Chuck. At this point I was thinking it was a "simple" goose egg to the forward and a very scared little girl. Once I found Chuck we pulled her off my shoulder to exam her face and were shocked to see it covered in blood! We had no idea where the blood was coming from so we started to wipe it off and discovered a decent size gash on her forehead. By this point Gma Peggy had come in and immediately took charge (cause she is amazing like that!) She took Em to the sink and ran her hands under cold water (apparently this calms children down...who knew?), so we could better exam her forehead. Upon further examination Peggy says "if it were my child, I would take her to the ER". Umm...you don't have to qualify that Peggy..if you say take her, we will take her, no questions asked. I see in Chuck's brain he is trying to figure out how he is going to get everything done that he needs to have ready for the night session, fortunately our friend Susie also notices this and offers to go with me. It's a good thing she did...I'm not sure I could have done the ER trip on my own.

We get to the ER and upon seeing Em's bleeding forehead they quickly get us checked in and into a room. It isn't too much longer the dr. comes in to exam her. He seemed to be a good dr. but definitely not a pediatric specialist! He says definitely stitches, as well as x-rays to rule out whiplash. We wait about 30-45 min. for the xray tech during which Em falls asleep, since all this drama occurred very close to nap time. We wheel her to the xray room and Susie graciously agrees to stay with her, since I couldn't. Susie and the 2 techs do a fabulous job of getting Em calm and cooperative in a very scary place for a 3 year old.
We head back to the room and are told it will probably be 15-20 min. because the x-rays have to be sent to Springfield to be read. Finally the dr. comes back in and is ready to do the stitches. It takes a nurse, Susie and I to hold her, and there is lots of screaming from one unhappy little girl. After 4 stitches the dr. says we are good to go, and tells the nurse to stick some neosporin and a band-aid on it before sending us on our way. I am pretty sure they had to go to the store to buy the band-aids, because this seemed to take way longer than it should have. But finally the nurse comes back. She also brings steri-strip with her, and asks "are you planning on taking the stitches out yourself?" Ummm....no!?! Apparently the dr. somehow got the impression we would be....nope..definitely taking her back to a dr. for that procedure!
Once Em gets her band-aid it is off to Dairy Queen for some ice cream to make everything all better! By the next morning you wouldn't have any idea Em had stitches in her forehead the way she is bouncing around! We go to Dr. Petre on Weds. for a follow-up and hopefully to remove the stitches.

Here are some pictures of our excitement--


Waiting in the ER...not a happy girl!


Several hours later back at camp sporting a pink bandaid!


The next day sans band-aid...our happy girl is back!

Emily is 3!

Emily's 3rd birthday was a couple of weeks ago...I can't believe my big girl is growing up! We celebrated with a family birthday party and had a great time with Hilman's and Leader's! Some of the presents she got were legos ( a new fav. in our house!), clothes, books, car seats (not fun..but very practical and needed!) a zany zoo toy, and some glow in the dark bracelets. Some highlights of where Em is at now at 3 (more for my benefit 3 years from now when Ninja is this age and I want to compare..sorry if they are boring)

**potty training--Em will sit on the potty willingly. She will go potty quite regularly and loves "going" with someone. She will sit on her potty while mommy or gma sits on the big potty. She is still unphased by a dirty diaper though, and has never once asked to go potty on her own. Dr. thinks we are well on our way though, and thinks she will be there within 6 months.

**talking--Em is talking up a storm! I can't believe just a year ago she wasn't talking at all. She asks for what she wants, tells us stories, and even talks on the phone.

**favorites--Some of Em's current favorites--books, going to the fitness center to play (and guilting mommy into working out), helping cook and take care of the animals, doing things herself (her fav. phrase-"me, do it!"), and tickles on the big bed with daddy (which are really more like tumbling!).

**eating-Em pretty much will eat anything. Meat is probably her least favorite, but will devour veggies, fruits, pasta and cereal. Milk is still her beverage of choice, although she enjoys juice as well. Again with eating we hear "me do it" alot!

**binky--agg...the dreaded binky! Before her 3rd birthday we spent a lot of time talking about getting rid of the binky and how big girls didn't need binkies. We had been to the dentist and he had told her she needed to get rid of it, and she said regularly "Dr. Tom says no binky!". So the night before her birthday we made a build a bear binky bear, gave a binky to the binky fairy and thought we had it made. She went down for bed willingly, and then fell apart! Every night for the rest of the week she was up after midnight, still getting up at regular times, and not napping. She had only been using the binky to sleep so this was the only time she was bothered. The following Fri. we had her 3 year appt with Dr. Jim, so I asked him about it. He said if it was causing her that much stress and anxiety to let her have it, as long as it was only for sleeping. I almost hugged him! So we are still using the binky for now...maybe we'll tackle it again later....maybe she'll take it to college!

So that's where she is at...and as a reward for making it this far..some pictures from her birthday party!

2011 Blizzard!

The 2011 Blizzard hit last night and dumped a mere 16 inches of snow on us...as well as lots of wind...which left some fabulous drifts. Here's a few pics of our driveway and Em enjoying it!