Baby's First Stitches

Funny that Wil and I were just talking the other day about how accident prone our son is, and yet he had not yet broken a bone or had stitches. That trend ended a couple days later, however, when I received that dreaded call at work. Apparently a handmade antique cabinet had fallen on Rowan, glass door shattering over his little head and cutting him in two places. Being the paranoid schitzo mom that I am, I had repeatedly tried to tip this cabinet over before placing it in Rowan's room months before. While I could not budge the stubbornly bottom heavy piece of furniture, evidently a four-year-old fighting over a rubber elephant with a two-year-old can generate enough force to knock said cabinet over. Go figure.

Anyway, I rushed home from work to find a sad little boy, an unhappy babysitter, a sleeping Lola, and a larger than it really should have been pool of blood soaking into the new carpet. Luckily our sitter is a newly graduated nurse who was working for us until she was able to find a job, so she had cleverly constructed a bandage out of band-aids and gauze, and other bits of emergency bandage material that was gathering dust in the cupboard.



The ER experience was sad, but Rowan was a champ. He was given some kind of baby dope that made him really really smiley and chilled out, then they strapped him to a little board with velcro. At first he thought the board was pretty cool, saying "surf board, surfboard" over and over. But then the meds started to wear off a little, and he realized that his hands were strapped down, and then unhappiness ensued. Luckily, the doctor was very fast and had the whole thing cleaned up and stitched up in a matter of minutes. When we let him out of his velcro prison, Rowan tried to run off with the "surf board". He didn't get very far, however, as his little legs weren't quite awake from the drugs yet. We convinced him to trade the board for a promise of Dairy Queen, and proceeded to get ice cream, which we all know makes everything better! Seven stitches. After a week, I pulled them out myself during a particularly enthralling episode of Dora.



We took a family trip to a nearby city to watch "Dinosaur!" a live show with very lifelike dinos. I had thought I bought tickets several rows up in the stands, but we actually ended up just 4 rows back. The huge life sized dinos roared right at us, and we could see right down their throats! Rowan spent the entire 90 minute show with a piece of popcorn poised at his mouth, frozen in absolute delight. Lola loved the show as well, and especially liked the flowers that appeared to grow right in front of her.



The sun has finally decided to come out a little, here and there, and we have been taking advantage of every minute of it. The yard and garden are starting to come alive and we have flowers everywhere! The garden is untamed, and will need a lot of work, but the kids are getting old enough where they don't need constant "three feet away" supervision anymore, and I can work away in the garden while they dig in the dirt nearby.

We have been visiting some playgrounds too since it is warmer outside, and the kids especially like going with friends!


I was honored to be asked to create and hostess a table for the Arts Council "Spring Tea" this year. I decided to theme my table "Cowgirl chic" and used my great grandmother's rose china, some denim, leather fringe, and western accessories to turn a blah table into a country girl's tea party extravaganza! It was so much fun. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets to sit at my table. Although I may never again sew 7 yards of fringe onto an 80 inch handmade denim tablecloth again....


Finally, the playground in our own city park has been installed! After years of bake sales, water sales, raffles, silent auctions and other fund raisers, we have met our goal. I took the kids down for a sneak peek the other day and they were so happy to have safe playground equipment just their size! I have to admit, I did shed a few tears of joy watching them play on something that myself and several others have worked so hard for so long to purchase and place. I can think back to the really hard times when we weren't sure we would ever have the funds, when I wondered if I would ever see my own children playing on the items we wanted to purchase. Watching them today, I am filled with pride and joy! Now, on to the next project....or maybe not....maybe we will just bask in this one for awhile!