A Picnic and the ER

So today started off fairly smoothly. We overslept (and by we I don't mean the children who were up promptly at 6:45 despite or late drive) got ready for the Church memorial picnic by banging down a section of fence, pulling a few weeds, digging in the dirt, making a salad and batch of cookies, then showing up almost early to finalize setup arrangements and drop off the yummy by overly gooey cookies & salad. People showed up, kids had fun with their activities, everyone ate, and we were headed home. Sydney tried to sit down on the bench to get her shoes on when she lost her balance on her hand, slipped and smacked the corner of her eye on the table and got a nasty gash on her cheek/eye socket area.

Luckily for us, not 1 doctor was there, but 3; a surgeon, a pediatric doctor, and an anesthesiologist. It's good to have friends! If you do find yourself in a position to need stictches, do it with lots of doctors on hand to evaluate your case! We debated what could be done, and where, since the two men could not legally work together in one facility, and in the end, we opted for the more immediate option instead of the putting her under to sew it up and waiting until after 8 hours had passed since her last meal. We followed our friend to the office, aka the Naval Hospital and went to the procedure room where Sydney very patiently and bravely allowed him to numb her cheek, poke her with a needle and then tape her eye closed and put in a few stitches. She was not happy, but held still enough that he was able to get everything over and done with relatively quickly.

Here is her little face at bedtime. For the record, except for the initial shock at the park, she has not let it bother her much at all. She even fell asleep while she was getting examined, probably more to do from the night before & lack of sleep than anything else, but it was a good thing she got a little extra rest today.



We had planned to spend the afternoon working in the yard & weeding, with a possible sidetrip to Lowe's to order a replacement door, but instead spent some time at the ER, at ToysR'Us getting the promised consolation prize (promised by Dad not me), at a small True Value Hardware (where we finally got a replacement guard so we won't ever have birds in the bathroom fan vent again), then Lowe's.

We spent then next 3 hours in Lowes. We ordered our door, spec-ed out a deck, almost bought lumber, then changed our mind, then remembered the dirt & mulch we needed for the yard, then a fan for the office, and then a bunch of other little things before we finally returned home to hungry cats. We need to unload the van still, but we got the kids in bed by a lovely 9pm. What a mess. They are still awake at 9:45 whispering to one another. Tomorrow will be awful, but for now I am going to drag my tired self down and get ready for bed & another early day.

Happy Memorial Day to all!