This morning actually went fairly smoothly. Yes, I only got 5 or 6 hours of sleep and I was rather tired, BUT I had slept on the fluffy cloud couch and my back wasn't hurting when I woke up. There was breakfast, getting dressed, getting Lily ready for school, getting Noah up, etc etc.. it all went fine. A little finer than it usually does.. we were only about 10 minutes late getting Lily to school. Which, for us, is like being early for most people.
After Noah and I dropped Lily off at school, I really didn't have a plan. Maybe get new tires. Maybe. (Did I mention my car almost didn't pass inspection last Monday because of my tires? I think the dealer just felt bad for me.) I didn't know.. I didn't really want to with Noah. I didn't know how long it was going to take. The new stroller hadn't come yet, so either we'd have to wait there or I'd have to carry him wherever we did go. Moan moan moan.
So, we went. There were no cars in front of the store and no other customers waiting. The clerk was super helpful, even laughing along with me about some of the tires he showed me when he mentioned they were made by a top company in Japan (?) known for their racing tires. Ya, racing tires, that's totally what I need on my 10 year old car that I drive my little kids around in.
I chose my tires and asked how long it would take. About an hour, he told me, maybe less. Oh. Wow. Okay. And off Noah and I walked to get breakfast.
Noah was great, eating half the egg out of my sandwich, drinking all his milk, and sitting quietly in the highchair until he was ready to leave. Then he was totally all set with the entire thing- and we were off again.
We walked back the same way we had come and stopped by a little park. Really little. Tiny parking lot, small grassy area, and a little pond/swamp behind that. But there were a few benches. And bird feeders made by Girl Scouts. I'd driven by it hundreds and hundreds of times (thousands?).. but never stopped in. I wish I had. The first thing I found once we stepped onto the grass was a four-leaf clover. Hadn't seen one in years, and bam- there one was. What luck.
We saw one goose, several male ducks, and one female duck with 4 or 5 babies swimming along behind her. There were tons of birds, including what I think was a red winged black bird (according to the internet). I so wish I had my good camera and not just my iPhone (while holding a toddler).
Noah wasn't super excited about any of it, but he tolerated it alright. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then finished walking back, hoping the tires would be done.
They weren't, but Noah had a lovely time wandering around the maze of tires until the car was done. Also, the tires I had originally picked out had already been sold and I was upgraded to the another set of tires for the same price. Win.
I drove home, while Noah slept. And he stayed asleep while I carried him into the house. So.. I got to take a shower before we had to go pick up Lily from school! (Shhhh! I know!)
After I was clean, I brought the recycling outside.. just as the FedEx truck was pulling up with my newly purchased stroller. Very exciting stuff.
Then.. since Noah was still sleeping, I called the hospital to dispute charges from my most recent visit, fully dreading it and ready for "well, since you blah blah blah then that's what the charge for that is and blah blah blah." Then I'd have to call my insurance company, who won't talk to its customers directly. I'd have to explain everything in horribly agonizing detail to a third party that somehow never really seems to understand. And then stay on the line so they can then do a awful job re-explaining it to my insurance company before they leave me on my own with the insurance representative. Honestly, it is the most asinine waste of time/job.
Buut instead, when I very briefly paraphrased the situation to the hospital's billing department the woman just said "okay, I'll wave that for you then." And poof, my bill dropped by $150. As did my jaw.
When Noah and I got to Lily's school, she didn't really want to leave- telling me that she "decided to stay longer," but she ultimately came along quietly.
Then we got home (dun dun dun). Lily ran around outside for a few minutes, but I was tired from our morning and just wanted to go inside. She wanted to play with the ants- and ignore me. Noah had been toddling around the driveway, but had stalled out at one point. I picked him up, started to walk to the door, and called for Lily to follow us- several times. Not shockingly, she didn't. I put Noah down so I'd have both hands free to deal with Lily, taking her hand, picking her up, whatever was going to be needed.
But, I didn't get more than 4 or 5 feet when I heard Noah starting to cry and turned to see him on the ground. He'd fallen, face first, on the driveway- in the exact spot I had left him standing. I don't think he'd even put his arms out, just- bam, right on his face. Oh. Oh, the blood. I scooped him up and screamed at Lily. SCREAMED. To get over to me and get inside the house. NOW.
Did he knock his teeth out? I really didn't want to look, I really didn't. I didn't want to see more blood and a big gap where a lovely little baby tooth had once sat.
He started to calm down a little bit once I got him inside, but every time I touched his face he just screamed. With paper towel. With a face cloth. With a mini-ice pack. He wanted none of it. Not touching his face.. no reaction. Trying to see how many teeth he had knocked out or if his teeth were imbedded in his face.. hysterical screaming.
While he was laying on the floor, with his mouth open a little, I managed to see that one of the teeth was just a bubble of red liquid and I thought for sure it was hanging on by a thread. After a few minutes, when I tried to look again it looked like maybe his top teeth actually were imbedded in his lip. Shiiiit. (And how he wasn't screaming in agony about it, I have no idea.)
I tried to get Lily to hold one of his hands away from his face so I could try to pull his lip off his teeth. Which had been Jason's super helpful advice via telephone. Not the Lily part, the other part. That didn't work even a little bit- I needed at least two more hands. Of course I was the only adult home. Of course my mother-in-law, a nurse, wasn't home. Of course Jason wasn't at the local office. And of-freaking-course it was 12:40 and the pediatrician wasn't back from lunch until after 1:00.
So we just got in the car. Eventually. (The more emergent the situation, the slower Lily moves while getting ready. Thank goodness the house isn't on fire, I told her.) And while I called the doctor several times before we just showed up, they never answered.
But, it didn't really matter- they saw us anyway. I laid Noah across my lap, held both his arms with one hand (while keeping his legs down with that elbow), and held down/stroked his head with the other hand. The doctor, holding a flashlight in one hand, examined his mouth fully. Noah flailed and screamed hysterically entire time. Understandably so.
Thankfully, thankfully.. his teeth weren't broken. Or knocked out or even loose (so far). His mouth and upper lip were cut open in several places.. bloody and swollen. He got an Advil prescription for the next few days and I got the job of having to be constantly, hysterically panicked about checking his teeth to made sure they don't start to get darker. Which would indicate they are dead. And FYI, that's not a good thing.
And then we came home. And everyone eventually fell asleep, except me. Because I have to calm down and eat chocolate and drink coffee. Because.. this is just what our life is like some days.
(I wasn't sure if hurt or helped, but.. I've had like 6 and half hours to think about it now. And.. I think because Noah had a pacifier in his mouth when he hit the pavement.. that probably saved his teeth. Like.. a baby mouth guard. And here I was thinking we really needed to move on from those binkies.)
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