Ouch.

Today, Nate started ripping up the linoleum in our back stairway (totally different post, holy man it's definitely looking wayyyyy worse before it will look any better) so I was entertaining the kids. It was about 5:00pm and I has just checked in online for Truman's haircut, and we had about 45 minutes to kill apparently. We had the two front doors opened up so just the screen door was closed, since we aren't going to be using the back entrance anytime soon with the asbestos/nastiness/disaster that is the stairway back there.

Then I had to pee. So, in typical mommy fashion I went a few steps away to the bathroom and kept the door open to remain accessible to the kids--who were playing in the front entry way when I left them.

And then I heard it: a scream so high-pitched that I couldn't quite place it at first. Then I realized it was Cecelia. Then she stopped and took it an octave higher and I knew she wasn't just squealing to be funny and loud. It was like nothing I've ever heard before and something I never hope to hear again.

I think I screamed, 'WHAT???!!!' as I ran out of the bathroom. I tossed my shorts to the side and pulled up my underwear the best I could while bolting to the front door. There I saw CC sitting on the ground, holding up her left hand, and wailing the scariest cry I've heard. I think I asked Truman what happened and I think he said 'her hand was in the door' but I was in panic mode. Her left forefinger and thumb looked completely flattened to me when I first stared at them. They were very white and had huge lines in them on the front and back of each finger, obvious marks from where the door slammed into her skin. She must have been holding the doorframe on the inside of the hinges when Truman tried to shut the front door. I still feel ill thinking about how hard he must have tried to close that door and how much pain she must have felt as her two fingers were smashed between the wood. And how scared and confused she must have been.

I scooped her up, ran to the kitchen, and started putting her hand under cold water. I yelled for Nate through the closed back door and he came running. I threw together an ice pack and tried to apply it but she would not allow such a thing no matter how much I tried. I kept telling her that it was alright but when Nate and I were looking at it, I honestly didn't know. We are both in healthcare and don't get squeamish about these things but man, it looked pretty awful. Both fingers were swelling up, both had cuts on them on each side of the fingers, and they seemed to be bruising already.

Nate asked, 'Should we take her to Children's?' and I said, 'I don't to put her through that if the fingers aren't broken. Do you think they could have crush injuries? Could they be dislocated?' He didn't know either, but we both agreed that babies have very pliable bones when they are this young. She wouldn't let us touch them and wasn't trying to move the fingers. She was just screaming bloody murder with huge tears streaming down her face.

I took her to the playroom and got her calm down for about 5 minutes with nursing her. That's when I noticed how distraught Truman was through all of this. He kept saying, 'I'm sorry CC. It was an accident. I didn't see your hand there.' Then he offered her Monkey---the mecca of all comforters---and two of his favorite trains. He kissed her and said, 'I don't like her to cry, mommy.' That's when I felt my eyes welling up with tears, too.

I asked Nate to get Ibuprofen and CC took it willingly. She nursed for a bit longer, then just pulled off and stared at her hand and cried. I had pretty much convinced myself that the fingers were not broken, that the cuts were not bad enough for stitches, and we'd just have to watch the swelling and keep her happy.

Which was not an easy task. I had to hold her and even then it was iffy. We decided to ditch our more elaborate dinner plans (grilling the bacon-wrapped pork loins I had bought at the store to go with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes....mmmmm) because it was nearly 5:35 already. All four of us packed into Nate's car and went to Truman's haircut appointment because we figured we needed to get out of the house anyway. Cecelia got a sucker right along with her brother at that appointment and she went shopping next door at the grocery store with Nate while I stayed with T. They got us sushi and edamame and we all headed back home for dinner.

Tried to get a few pictures, but none are that great. Her swollen thumb with the cut on the outside of the thumb.


Poor baby showing me where it hurts:(


Cut on the inside of the thumb, too


Owies.


Once we got back home CC started to seem more like herself. She was using the left hand and playing with Truman, only occasionally getting weepy and gesturing to her poor fingers. They were really swollen and might even be worse tomorrow morning but I definitely think we made the right decision by avoiding the ER. Truman was still feeling pretty protective over his sister all night, being extra sweet and cautious with her, sharing his toys and trying to get her to laugh. I think he took this the hardest out of our bunch.

She will be fine, kids are so resilient, but oh I despise this part of parenting. Seeing your child in pain is simply excruciating. It could have been so much worse and I'm grateful that Cecelia is going to be just fine. My heart always aches for those parents who have to see their children in pain long term with chronic illnesses, or much more severe injuries than a measly slammed finger in a doorway. I know I'm not a bad mom for taking a pee break and leaving them alone for 5 seconds, but of course I would give anything to have been watching as Truman tried to shut that door. I'm pretty sure he will never try to shut a door without checking his sister's location first again.

Thankful it wasn't any worse. And thankful for my beer right now.

Aug 31: Daily Blogging for a Month-- Complete!

Wow, I did it! I blogged every day for the month of August. Are you sick of seeing a new post of mine pop up in your feed? It's not going to continue every day, but it really wasn't too hard for me since I allowed myself to work ahead on daily posts and schedule them out once I got one finished.

Like I said before, I did type on the blog every day. I just didn't start and complete an entire post in each sitting. Obviously some of the posts had more 'meat' to them than others, but overall it really was fun for me! Surprisingly so, actually. Kind of makes me want to stay more active over here because it feels nice to get it all out into a post, you know?

Sure, it took up a lot of my 'me' time. I could have been watching a show on the couch with Nate during my blogging time, or responding to friends' emails a little quicker, or napping during my kids naps on those days when we were all up at 5am. But I didn't mind spending some time on this old blog. I still thoroughly enjoy reading back over my old posts and reminiscing about moments in our lives that would probably never be remembered in such detail without this blog. Oh, blog. I still love you.

I do have Truman's 3.5 year old post going up tomorrow just because I can't do that *early* and live with myself for having it posted on 8.31.13 instead of 9.1.13 ;) I have two other topics that commenters requested, which I haven't written yet:

-feeding babies solids, and how to get them to eat instead of just drink milk
-what it's like having my kids in daycare

Any other topics I should hit in the next few months?

I still have a few of my own drafted but none of them are all that interesting and I kind of lost my motivation on most of them.

Now that I won't be blogging every day, I very much look forward to FINALLY starting Cecelia's first year photo/blog post album. I've been saying this for over three months now and it's time because soon enough I will be working on family albums for the Christmas season! But it's time and now I might actually be capable of editing down the number of pictures to something more manageable than 3000 or whatever I would have chosen right after her first birthday. ;)

Thanks for reading this month!

Aug 30: Miscellany

Thirty days into this daily blogging quest and I'm just now doing a miscellaneous post? It's time to catch up on the random stuff floating around my head.

1. We got a new area rug for our family room! The old cream and white chevron rug was really thin, the cream was a magnet for dirt, and I was craving something solid since we have a ton of patterns going on in our two main rooms. And so? RugsUSA.com pulled through for me again, this time with everything on the site being 50% and also free shipping. So a wool rug that is a giant 7.5'x9.5' for $250? Pretty good deal by me.



It's so fluffy and dark and solid--just what we wanted. The kids had a ball helping me unroll it and we are loving the new navy-ish/blue look on our floor. I think it makes the room seem a lot bigger and makes our hardwood floors stand out. Now that fireplace is REALLY calling my name!

(no rug=huge room!)


(helpers)


(very poor body mechanics here, Truman)




(and Ta Da!)






Also took a few other pictures of the dining room and playroom/sunroom because someday I will update my 'house tour' tab on this blog.






It bugs me that three of our storage boxes are not on the shelves here. They must be in the basement where we've relegated a lot of our trains lately. But cute handprint canvases are hung!




2. Nate celebrated his 32nd birthday on Wednesday which means he finally caught up to his old hag wife. Truman and I baked him a cake (from a boxed mix) and frosted it (with canned frosting) and added sprinkles and candles. Truman cannot love birthdays anymore and we do love making them a big deal in our house!













Also, we did not get Nate an iPad yet. After T spilled the beans, I straight up asked Nate if he wanted one and he said he kind of wants to wait until next month when the new iPads come out. And he doesn't know if he wants a mini or regular, so we decided to ditch that idea all together and just get other things.

I took the kids with me to this golf store on Tuesday night and we seriously had a blast walking around there. Truman found two separate mannequins and he said, 'Take my picture with him, he looks like my daddy.' HAHAHAHA. A headless, stark white mannequin who is pretty freaking ripped? Okay!





Then Truman found the driver head covers, specifically a Spider-Man gigantic stuffed atrocity. He HAD to get it for daddy, he told me, even though Truman thought it was just a toy and not something Nate would actually have to display on his clubs in front of his peers. Also I helped Truman pick out a new golf polo shirt. Then as we left the golf store, we found this fountain and Truman asked to throw in a penny. I told him to make a wish and he said, 'To play with Daddy.' He's really into Nate lately and I love it.


Both gifts were huge hits this year! We had Nate open them before work on Wednesday and it was hilarious to see the kids 'help'. Nate said he will totally sport the Spidey cover because Truman was so stinking proud of it. And he immediately changed into his new green polo we bought him to wear to work on his birthday. Score! And also BOO for working on our birthdays now that we are old and boring. ;)

(cards are boring, dad)














3. My hair update: I'm loving it! It feels more like 'me' and not quite as shocking anymore and my favorite part is I can literally wake up in the morning and don't have horrible 'bed head' because it's still somewhat presentable. It's seriously ridiculously easy to style and I have tried a few different ways so far.

This was my 'sleek' look using a blow dryer (for 2 minutes) and quickly going over the top with a flat iron (3 minutes). Seriously.


And I really love to wear it messy/curly. All I have to do is let it air dry with some product in it, and voila! Lays pretty nicely right now and is kind of fun to let it go wild. This takes approximately 1 minute max.





4. Summer is ending and that is sad for me. I do love fall but truly despise the length of a Wisconsin winter. Sigh. One step at a time, I suppose. Anyway, I took the kids to the pool for one last hurrah on Tuesday. It was over 90 degree and we had a ton of fun staying cool in the water, and then amazing 3 hour naps followed. I wanted a 'end of summer/loved this pool picture' and got these to commemorate this time in our lives. ;) Also, I had already started to change CC into her dry clothes when I remembered to take a picture. She wasn't actually topless while we were swimming, promise.







Ah, yes. That's about right. Those kids of mine.

Happy Labor Day weekend, readers!

Aug 29: Comparison Time

Cecelia at 15 months versus Truman at 15 months

Not Too Impressed:





The Happy Crinkle:




The Scowl:




I cannot handle either of them. Too much. Why do I love comparisons more than anything??

Aug 28: Cecelia at 15 months

This has been a month where Cecelia's communication and understanding of what we are saying both astound me. I think that will be the focus of this monthly post because the big hitters of sleep and eating? Eh, pretty boring. She eats like a boss (easily three times as much as Truman) and sleeps like she is teething. That is, she wakes up by 5 am nearly every morning, went through a few weeks where she'd be up at least once in the middle of the night, and naps have gotten very unpredictable. Sometimes two great naps in a day, sometimes one long afternoon nap, and sometimes she will fight both and only sleep for 45 minutes total all day. Whatever. Onto the fun stuff!









It hit me the other day: CC understands a LOT of what I'm saying to her now. I will ask her to get her shoes and she will prance into the kitchen to retrieve them. I tell her to pick up the ball and she grabs it with authority. A few days ago she was asking for 'Dada' and I said, 'Daddy is golfing today, CC.' Do you know what she said next?

"Ball?"

I mean, what? I said the word 'golf' and she responded with 'ball'? That is just crazy to me. Also, I asked her, 'Do you want to eat pizza for lunch?' and she responded by blowing into the air. Because she likes me to blow on her pizza slices to cool them off. Unbelievable. I have a kid who knows what I'm saying. Thank you, God!

She will whisper 'choo choo' when she hears one from far away.


She really does love trains, except when we are close to the tracks. I've noticed that a loud train whistle just a few feet away from our heads is NOT something she enjoys. Twice now, at the playground near the train tracks, she has run over to me with a deer in the headlights look, arms outstretched, nearly crying because the train whistle was too scary. Poor baby girl! She's also done the 'scared' thing when she hears an ambulance go by our house. It's heartbreaking to see her upset but also kind of awesome to have her cuddle into me for comfort.



Cecelia is imitating us like crazy now. Whenever Henry barks she will say 'shhhhhh,' in the sweetest little voice. She loves to give high and low fives this month, she will imitate us blinking at her with a really hilarious sloooow blink, and she will yell 'Boo!' at us if she wants to be chased. Which is currently a favorite game for Truman and her (love it.) She's perfecting her devilish grin this month, too. Whenever I say, 'CC, do NOT eat that dirt,' she will look right at me, grin, and start to put more in her mouth. Little stinker. If Truman asks her for a toy she is holding she will look to the side, drop her chin to her shoulder, and give puppy dog eyes to the wall as if to say, 'No way, man. This is mine.' Ah, siblings. I still find myself labeling Cecelia as the stronger willed kid, one who kind of runs the show around my laid-back boy. Unless she messes with his trains. Then watch out---she is definitely the little sister then.

(little sis graduated to the booster seat, just because our high chair is bugging me lately)




(loves her baby doll. Also: twins!)


(first time at a Mexican restaurant. She loved the chips and salsa, black beans, and rice....despite her frown in this pic)




Every animal that we see is a dog, or more accurately a 'daw daw'. When we went to the zoo she lost her mind over the elephants, giraffes, monkeys and polar bears. All doggies, of course, but she finally loves the zoo. She's an outdoorsy girl, no doubt, and still loves the water, loves to play in the dirt in our flower beds, and goes nuts over 'buh-buh' (bubbles). Don't try to help her blow bubbles though, people. She wants to do it all alone which is obviously very successful at 15 months old.







She will say 'ow!' with a scowl on her face if she steps on a rock outside in our driveway, and I literally cannot handle this one. Got a few videos, couldn't help myself.

Sometimes she will fall on her butt and exclaim 'ow!' also, but I think some of those are fake injuries just to get us to look at her;) CC is pretty rough and tough and thinks she can climb the biggest ladders at the playground and gets angry when she can't do it just yet. She did get her first real owie this month, though, when she toppled off our concrete stoop onto the driveway. I was standing rightthere but couldn't stop it. Her bottom lip bled quite a bit and her top lip and nose also got some scrapes. Poor Truman was really upset about his sister getting hurt and kept demanding that I 'check her knees, mommy!' because he is so used to skinning up his knees when he falls. After trying to clean up her lip a bit the only thing that consoled baby girl was to nurse her. Even with a fat lip that's all she wanted to calm down.




So yep, she is still nursing at 15 months! I can't believe it really, and I'm not sick of it yet;) She still hasn't come up with a good word for nursing and prefers to smack my chest whenever she wants it. We are mostly only nursing first thing in the morning and at night now, but occasionally before naps or if she gets an owie/is extra clingy. I know this is not something she does for actual nutrition anymore since she eats and drinks like an adult, and it's probably all for comfort. Fine by me, I will be her human pacifier if she needs it. I might be making about 3 drops of milk each time she nurses, so GO BOOBS! ;)





Also, she got her third molar this month and the fourth is on the verge. Hence the crappy/inconsistent sleep and possibly the need to nurse more frequently some days? She's still loving her nuk and to request it she will smack her lips together instead of trying to say an actual word. She knows to throw it down into her crib before she gets out after a nap or in the mornings. But in the car, or if she is super fussy I will still let her have the nuk, too. Probably need to get rid of it soon before it becomes TOO much of an issue, but she doesn't use it all that much and is talking up a storm so I don't care all that much just yet. I also see her being very attached to 'rah-rah' or her froggie blanket---demanding to hold it whenever she feels tired and ready to nurse.



Back to her words: I'm trying not to make a big long list in this post because there are a lot that she can say---specifically 19 that I have listed on my phone. But there are also a lot of words only we can understand out of her mouth at this point and those are included in the 19;) I never know if I should count those Cecelia-isms as a word or not (probably not), but the bottom line is she is definitely talking. She's great at asking 'peas' or even 'peas-peas-peas-peas' when she sees something she wants. Like a toy that her brother is using at the moment or a dessert on the counter. Sometimes she will even say 'day-doo' (thank you) when we put her dinner in front of her and announces 'ahh-duh' when she is finished in record time. 'Nana' is her generic default word for anything she can't say yet. She actually does use it for requesting a banana sometimes, but mostly she will point to very random items and claim it to be a 'nana'.





The coolest thing I've noticed this month? Cecelia is such a girl. And it's nothing that we've taught her or tried to impress on her (aside from drenching her in pink at all times, but that doesn't count). Out of the blue, Cecelia starting carrying toys with handles on her arm like a purse. She did this with a sand pail outside one day and just walked around with the thing dangling on her forearm, so proud of her 'purse'. I never remember Truman doing this!















Also, I'm not kidding when I say that she is now demanding hair bows in her curls each day. For real. Each morning when I go into her room (middle of the night?) she will grunt, point to her closet where the hair bow collection lives, and then pat her head. The girl loves to accessorize, what can I say? She also loves to pull out the bows at times but I still think she likes to wear one. After we secure said hair bow she will say, 'Dada' and request to see Nate. Once we find him she will immediately point to her bow and grunt, like 'Do you approve, daddy?' She did this when she first saw my Aunt the other day, too. Must be proud of her bows! Oh, and if I say the word, 'pretty,' as in 'You look pretty today, Cecelia,' she will grunt and point to her head. Perhaps I should work on curbing her ego when it comes to her superficial looks.









But she is freaking cute, so it's hard to stop telling her that! And she has extremely expressive little faces, just like her brother. Putting her in some of my vintage dresses from my childhood is my favorite, btw.

(Thrilled to play driver in daddy's car)






Aside from showing everyone her pretty bow in her hair, something else she loves to show people as soon as they walk in our house? Her belly button, which she calls 'bee-buh'. She is obsessed and will also lift up our shirts to find our bee-buhs.




Another really fun milestone this month is that I don't have to carry her quite as much. She is now able to walk from the car to the back door instead of always having to be carried. Sometimes she gets side tracked with the dirt she loves to smear on herself but mostly she knows we are going inside and she follows Truman and I right into the house. It's nice to just hold her hand and let her walk across a playground instead of lugging her around on my hip. But most mornings she still 'needs' to be held by mommy for a good while before I dare set her down to play on her own.

When it comes to 'Tru-Tru' she is completely obsessed with her big brother. She loves to torture him, to make him laugh, and to give him unprompted hugs. Recently she's discovered she can make him giggle by sucking his big toe. I tried to tell her how disgusting that is, but she will not listen.










She also loves to terrorize/love on Henry dog.

My sweet girl. I always have a hard time writing these monthly reports on you because it's difficult to capture all of you in words. You're the best little girl I know! Thanks for bringing us plenty of spunk and smiles.