ROCKY

I was going to post a post about quilting today. One of my clients brought me another quilt. She also said that she took the 4 that I did for her in March and April to her quilt group, and that everyone gushed about how good they were. That totally made my day! That and the fact that she liked me enough to bring me another quilt. I always worry that people won't like what I do. Quilting is kind of an art form, and it is very interperative. A quilt might "say" something to me, but something different to someone else. I always try to make sure that I have a clear picture of what my clients want me to do before I start quilting. I haven't really had anyone complain, that I know of, so I guess that means I'm doing a good job. I know that I am so over-critical of myself, but I find that if I care a lot about what I'm doing, then I am extra careful and way anal about making sure it looks practically perfect. But anyway, I was going to do a post about quilting, until something happened.

Today was a sad, sad day. We went over to Grandma's to help clean and get ready for their return to the U.S. on Tuesday. Marshy-marsh was in his stroller, and I had pulled it up the bottom three stairs to the living room. There are three stairs, then a landing, and then four more stairs. The diaper bag was making the turn on the landing difficult, so I turned around to put it down so I could pull Marshy and the stroller up the remaining four stairs. All the wheels were on the landing. Can you see where this is going? It was awful! Marshy must have been wiggling just enough to lurch the stroller forward, and as I turned around to grab the stroller and pull him up the last few stairs, it slid off the landing, down one step, and then tipped over on top of him in the entryway. WITH HIM STRAPPED IN. I screamed. There was nothing I could do. It was like it happened in slow motion, ya know? But I didn't get there in time to save my baby. He ended up face down in the tiled entry. SCREAMING. I pulled the stroller off of him, and hurriedly unbuckled him. He had a huge bump on his forehead, his eye was swollen and a little cut, his cheek was scraped up, and his mouth was bleeding.

At first we all thought he would maybe need stitches, but as he calmed down a little, and we were able to see into his mouth, it appeared that he had just cut his lip on his new eyeteeth. It didn't look that bad, just very swollen, and a tiny little cut. Of course, head and mouth wounds always bleed a ton, so it's hard to tell if it's serious or not at first.

Naturally, I didn't have ANY medicine in the diaper bag. It seems like when I need it it's in the medicine cupboard at home, and when I don't need it it's in the diaper bag. Anyway, I ran to the local grocery store, in the next town over because our new one hasn't been built yet, and grabbed some generic Ibuprofen. He would only take half a dose. I felt so bad forcing it into his mouth. He hates taking medicine. The only way we can get it down is if we lay him on the floor, and pin his arms and legs down, and squirt it in his mouth while he is screaming hysterically.

Also, he didn't want anything to do with me for the longest time. I felt so bad about the whole thing. I still do. He has such a sad and swollen face now. And of course it had to happen just days before he meets Grandma and Grandpa for the first time! Grrr!

You can kind of see the scrapes and bumps in this picture. The cold bottle made his mouth feel better, I'm sure, and was a definite comfort for him. You can't really see, but his white t-shirt is totally covered with blood and spit and milk at the top, and he is holding his puppy (also a comfort item). He is sitting on Mike's lap. He only wanted his daddy. No one else.

This is a closer shot of his face. You can see his swollen eye and cheek better from this angle. His mouth is way swollen on the side too, but you can't tell because of the bottle. When I took these pictures with my camera phone (sorry Ninja, but you'll have to deal with the "blurry photos" again) the swelling had gone down a lot.

However, he woke up about half an hour ago, sad and sore. I gave him another half dose of Ibuprofen, because his eye was almost completely swollen shut, and his lip is all black and blue. I guess bruises have to get worse before they can get better. I just hope Grandma and Grandpa don't get scared off by "swollen face" baby on Tuesday. Just picture him as cute as all his other pictures, okay? Hopefully the swelling will go down. We tried to ice it, but he doesn't like it if you touch him with cold or wet, so we had a tough time. In fact, he wouldn't let me clean his chin off until about 9 PM (he fell around 6:30).

The boys have been giving me a hard time....especially Ninja, JR..... he kept saying I pushed him down the stairs. That just makes me feel even worse. I guess it is in boys' natures to be mean and tease, but it just doesn't seem right to tease a worried mom about her hurt baby. The good thing was that Lola and Scott and Diana were all there, and they have had this happen to kids before. Apparently the Evil Glass Coffee Table from Heck has caused plenty of bumps and cuts and stitches. Who would've thought it would be the "safe" stairs, too? I mean, it's not like Marshy has somersaulted down them before (he has) or fallen down the tall upstairs with the pointy planter corner at the bottome (he has) without getting hurt (he hasn't ever gotten hurt falling down the stairs before....WHAT THE HECK?!) I guess rather than get attacked by the coffee table he has chosen the stairs.

Sparky totally freaked out, too, when it happened. He didn't understand what was happening, but he wanted to sit by Mike and Marshy for the longest time. Marshy didn't want anything to do with him, and when he licked Marshy's foot, Marshy freaked out a little. Eventually Marshy returned to a somewhat-normal state and played with Sparky and Bella (Angel's dog).