We're Baaaack!

We are back from our weekend in the mountains. And like promised...I have a few pics for you all. It's late and I am completely exhausted from unpacking and taking care of two kids all afternoon and evening. I will give you the highlights. Let's start with the most unfortunate portion of our weekend...

The Boy was up in the loft playing with two of his cousins when we heard a cry. This was not uncommon this weekend as there were 7 kids there and often someone ended up in tears. I heard the cry and immediately declared that it didn't belong to me (I was only listening for The Girl's cry...as The Boy rarely cries). Upon further inspection I realized that the cry did indeed belong to me, and it was The Boy. I called upstairs, "What happened? Why is [The Boy] crying?" His older cousin yelled something back but all I heard was "There's blood." I ran upstairs and he was laying on his back and I saw some blood on his hand and neck and he wasn't screaming, but was clearly upset. After searching and asking where he was hurt we determined it was his ear. It was bleeding pretty good but I couldn't really see much so I asked what had happened. His older by 10 months boy cousin showed me (and his mom who had come upstairs as well when we realized blood was involved) that he had put a pillow on top of a mattress on the floor and was running in place on top of them. Shockingly, he lost his footing somehow and fell onto the boy and somehow he teeth/tooth had hit his ear on the way down. Again, still not sure entirely what happened as no adults were present (we were sitting 30 feet away downstairs), but it was completely clear that his had been an accident.

So I took The Boy downstairs and calmly got a paper towel and blotted away some of the blood and really looked for the first time at his ear. Holy shit. Have you ever had that feeling where you look at something thinking it is no big deal and then all of a sudden go, "Holy crap! We are going to the hospital..." That's what happened. A rather large chunk of the soft tissue on the outside of his ear was literally ripped away. The skin was like flapping around. It was horrible. I tried to remain calm (and think I did a pretty good job of it considering The Boy wasn't even crying anymore...) and went outside and had my step mother confirm that, yes, he needs to go to a hospital. We quickly found the number for the urgent care clinic in Arnold, CA and called to confirm that they were open. I put The Boy in my step mom's lap while I changed my clothes and threw The Girl into her pack n play and muttered, "night night" and ran out of the room. This was about 9:00 in the morning on Friday. My Dad came with me and we left and went to two places that were just normal doctors offices and not urgent care places before we found the right place. As soon as we found it we were taken right in.

I'll spare you the gritty details but he needed several stitches. He was SO brave. Without question the hardest part was when they had to put lidocaine into the open wound to numb it. They had to physically restrain him with me holding his upper portion of his body and my Dad holding his lower portion. I looked him in the eye and talked to him the entire time telling him what was going to happen and helping him through it. Once the lidocaine shots (yes, there were several) were done, he relaxed a little. He felt the pulling when they put the stitches in but I told him Spiderman had made a special trip up to the mountains to loan out his special web to put his ear back together and he was going to think it was SO cool when a web sewed up his ear. He liked that. We were home about two hours after the incident happened and he was FINE. Seriously fine. He left 15 minutes after getting back to the cabin to go on a hike. I proceeded to collapse into a ball on the floor once he was gone and burst into tears. My step sister (whose son was the one who had cause the accident) was also in tears as she felt SO bad that it had happened. But it was an accident. Plain and simple. These things happen. But I can't even tell you how hard it was to remain strong and positive and keep him in a good place, but I did it. I totally held it together for him. And he was such a brave little dude. And seriously, he didn't let it slow him down at all. He was fine. He played with his cousins the rest of the weekend without any drama at all. I am still shaking. Here is a picture of his ear when we got home from the hospital...

That picture doesn't actually look too bad. Over the next couple of days the entire ear turned purple and black with bruises. And tomorrow morning (Monday) I am going to take him to his normal pediatrician to look at it and make sure the doctors did a good job. He was also put on antibiotics since there were teeth involved and to help prevent infection. There is a chance he will need to see a plastic surgeon. We won't know until his regular doctor takes a look at it tomorrow. But seriously. This little dude has had MORE than his fair share of visits to the hospital. And he was so brave. I am so proud of how he handled it. Me? I'm not sure I have stopped shaking yet...

But besides that, it was a great weekend. I know that sounds lame to say but it is true. He didn't let his ear slow him down in the slightest and he had a fabulous time playing with all of his cousins, as did his sister. It was crazy, and exhausting and chaotic, but that is the wonderfulness of family. My kids didn't feel any of that. They just knew they were at a cool cabin having a great time with family. And to prove my point? Here are a couple of pics to show the fun side of things as well...
Same day as the ear accident, there he was at the lake playing with his cousins (although he couldn't go in the water as far as them cause he had to keep his ear dry...). Check out that grin on his face. Look like he is moping around to you? Not so much...

And here is his sister. She's such a goof. She rocked her shades all weekend long. Seriously. She wanted them on all the time. She's a Hollywood starlet in training...or something...
All in all it was a great weekend. It took me a full week to pack and 7 hours later after we have been home I am still not completely unpacked. My son got stitches and I am so tired my limbs physically hurt. But the kids had a fabulous time. And that's really what it's all about, right? Right?!?!? Hope all of you had a nice, safe, stitches free weekend.