Noticeably I have been absent this week, and the third “Hi, are you dead?” type of email just popped into my inbox. I am fine, my zexy kittens. It just has been a frenetic, nutsy type of week.

Here is a quick spewing of mental vomit, with a recap. (And apologies for wonky grammar!):

Relatives arrived from out-of-state and four adults plus two toddlers squished into our teensy apartment for a couple of days.

My sleep patterns are off since the wee one has been suffering through a pre-Christmas cold.

Yesterday M. and I were about to wrap up our Christmas shopping and we were just getting ready to reach for our coats to beat it to the mall before the crowds became intolerable, when suddenly our rambunctious toddler came barreling into the living area, tripped over our tawny rug and face-planted straight onto the oval coffee table.

Immediately I scooped her up and said, “Okay, wow, we have to go to the emergency room. NOW.” Daddy started losing his shit and I chastised him to stop scolding Lexi because her lip would start quivering and the big crocodile tears would start, and then her forehead would wrinkle, causing MORE blood to gush out of the deep inch-long laceration over her left eyebrow, and blood all ready was pooling on the shoulder of her lilac jammies with the dancing teddy bears.

Daddy calmed down and gently wrapped gauze around her brow and we spent the next few hours of our evening in the ER while Lexi received five stitches to her left eyebrow. The hospital staff strapped her down to tiny papoose board (a full body restraint) and covered her eyes during the procedure and she shook like a leaf and bawled while I stood next to her feeling terribly helpless.  But I forced myself to sound calm and I soothingly talked to her in a loud clear voice during the entire procedure, reminding her that it was just like being swaddled as a newborn and that Mommy and Papa were right there and her kitty was waiting for her at home, and I assured her how brave she was being and kept giving quick updates on where the doctor was in the stitching procedure, and immediately I nursed her on the boob the very second I could snatch her up from that horrific metal table.

Lexi gave me a bewildered, yet charming smile through her tears and chomped away on the booby while the doctor shuffled out and the poor male nurse was trying to register her vitals through all of the commotion. But thankfully my sweet butter bean was calmer and visibly comforted.

The little stinker was merrily giggling and caroling baby gibberish to Mommy on the drive home from the hospital. I, however, have been more than slightly traumatized and was shaken by this whole she-bang. Once we arrived home and Lexi was tucked in bed, my strong exterior crumpled. Scary, scary.

If I could offer any advice to new parents, it would be: always to follow your intuition. If your instinct tells you that baby is fine immediately following an accident, they probably are. However in that split second if your gut is screaming that something is wrong, LISTEN. Don’t ever squelch that voice.

Soo we busily have been prepping for Christmas with cookies and brunches and a hodgepodge of other festivities, and since I didn’t want to sully anybody’s holiday plans, I did allow Lexi to participate in Christmas-y things today as long as she took it easy. She proudly toddled about and showed off her healing stitches to family. Now we call her our Lil Scarface and quip about how she will have more scars than the boys, although really that is SO not funny.

Also this week amid all of the family drama, the End of Days slunk past us rather uneventfully.

And besides the blustery weather and fretting over snow tires, there actually was some good news to share.

M. has been offered a raise at his work come mid-January, which is a terribly exciting and welcoming development on the financial front.

And I am noodling around on a novel that has been marinating in the background for some time now, and this new year I will be polishing up the first draft.  This is an entirely new venture and I am excited to see where it may lead. At least it will feel cathartic to breathe life into some of these raw ideas. Also I have been offered a fantastic opportunity to work on a collaborative writing project with a handful of other financial bloggers for this coming month. (More news on this forthcoming.)

I look forward to enjoying a saner January, and I hope your holidays are ruling.

=^..^=

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