Highs and Lows

I had a strange night. I have never felt such strong emotions as a mother. After a crazy busy day on three hours of sleep last night (but all the wall paper is down in my kitchen--such an improvement!), I took the kiddos to play outside. Jack decided he wanted to take off his training wheels and since grandmom and granddad were visiting last weekend until today, I thought it would be cool for one of them to "teach" him to ride. He has been ready to ride for a while, so I knew it would be quite easy for him. The weather was cold all weekend, so today he wanted to learn and since grandmom was working, I helped him. He picked it up and was riding his bike like he had been riding it for years within a few minutes. A few minutes after he was riding up and down the street like a champ, Anna tripped while holding on to a bottle of bubbles and fell face first and cut her eyebrow. I saw the fall and instantly I knew she would need stitches or glue. Thank-goodness my dad was there to watch my kids and I took her to urgent care. Two stitches later, she looks good and hopefully there won't be much of a scar. This brings me back to the beginning of this paragraph. When I took her to the urgent care, I was really hoping for glue, but because of the angle of the cut, stitches were the better choice to leave less of a scar. It is hard to describe the feelings you have for your child when they have to go through something like that. I have experienced stitches in many different patients and many different ages, but when it is your own child and you are watching her go through it and she is looking in your eyes, oh my. I think when it was over, I was sweating, flushed and shaky. Sounds dramatic, I know. And when I write about this, I realize it was just stitches. Just two stitches. Hard to begin to imagine what parents endure when they have a seriously sick child. Anna is fine, she got her band-aid, a few stickers and a sucker and she fell fast asleep tonight when we got home.

My parents were so helpful to stay longer than planned and when Anna and I got home and my mom put the girls in bed, I realized that I didn't get video of Jack on his bike. So, we went outside and as I held up the video camera and watched him speed down the street and I had such strong feelings of pride and happiness. Again, I realize that it is just riding a bike and it is not like he is extremely young to ride a two-wheeler. However, I loved to see him succeed and have so much fun! Since Anna fell so quickly after he started riding, I really had not seen him ride it that much and had not stopped to think about what he had accomplished. What a cool milestone--I still remember riding my bike for the firs time.

Other news:
Like, I mentioned above, over the weekend, my parents came up to baby-sit out kids while we went to Judge Sutton's reunion Saturday night. Being away from the kids hardly ever happens and although John and I were only gone for about 24 hours, it was a nice time. Since Saturday, my mom and I got some projects done, the most important one is the wall paper is ALL off the kitchen walls (thanks to my mom for getting a lot done while we were gone)! I need to get the kids' bathroom wall paper down and then I hope to have it, the kids' rooms and the upstairs bathroom painted in the next few weeks. My dad moved all my plants from the area in my backyard that will become my new garden...I feel like he is always helping me get a garden started. I guess we should stop moving. It was a lot of work, but it was a huge help.

Grandmom brought the kids fruit ka-bobs

These next two pictures of Kate looks like my niece, Sarah

Anna enjoyed a sucker before the traumatizing suturing began

Two stitches and a band-aid later

When I got home with Anna, I was laughing with my dad about his evening. He is such a trooper with not just my kids, but all of his grandchildren. After Anna fell, he told me to leave with her and he would watch the other three, and when I left, I knew he had a hard situation. Jack couldn't decide if he wanted to go with me and was crying when I left (even though he chose to stay home), Kate thought that I took Anna back outside to play and she was upset she was inside. So, after I left, my dad said he decided to take them outside because Kate was very upset. Well, she ran up the street looking for me. I think this is the first time in a long time that I have taken one of the girls and left the others. Meanwhile, he is chasing her, she is crying, Jack is crying because he didn't like to see Kate upset. Did I mention that when I left, the sprinkler system company was at our house getting it set up for the summer? So Elizabeth was running through the sprinklers. I would say it was around 45 degrees outside and the wind has been ridiculous. I left a check so my dad could pay the sprinkler company, but when the man was finished, my dad couldn't get all the kids to go inside (Kate and Jack were crying) so he couldn't write out the check. They man told him he would just bill us and left telling my dad, "good luck." I think after that, my dad got the kids inside and fed them a Popsicle and an entire box of milk duds and I think Kate stopped crying at some point. My mom returned shortly after and things got better once the kids were fed dinner. But, what a good sport to take on our crazy children all the time! Thanks dad!

I am so thankful my mom and dad were here tonight. John is in Arizona so I think I would have had to call a neighbor or take all the kids with me. I guess it is really true that God only gives you what you can handle. I am sad Anna needed stitches on her eye, but honestly, I am glad she needed them today when I had family available to help me.