Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
One of John’s absolute favorite things is to watch model railroads from YouTube on our big screen television. I think he would watch these 24/7/365 if he could!
Did I mention hours and hours of this? Over and over again? He has his favorite videos and I always try to throw in new ones. Oh, and did I mention hours and hours of this? 24/7/365?
One fun part of Kindergarten? I get to buy Laura books every month from the Scholastic Book Club flyers!
I was told today that my office will actually close on June 30, 2012, instead of December 31, 2011. Only three staff members will be retained until June 30. Our office support (Rhonda), our fiscal/HR person (Fred), and me. Fred will be splitting his time between my office and another during those six months. It was a bit of a relief as I’ll now have an extra six months to find another position at the University. I really want to remain there as I already have nearly 16 years in. I did have an informal interview with another department in the College of Education today and I think that went pretty well. They don’t have a position at this time, but now my resume and skills are in front of them. I have another interview tomorrow at Columbia College, but that position is not particularly promising. While it is a great title (Assistant Director), the pay is less than what most Administrative Assistants at the University of Missouri make. We shall see….
Yesterday, while playing with neighbor kids, Laura and Miles were laying on the swings winding them and unwinding them. We’ve all done this as kids. Generally, it is okay when it is just one kid, but it can lead to disaster when two kids are doing it at the same time. We had asked them to stop the first time we saw it. We yelled for them to stop the second time we saw it, but it was too late. Laura and Miles hit their heads together. Miles was not hurt, but Laura started crying immediately. We brought her up to the back patio where she cried and whimpered for a bit while sitting on our laps. After a bit, she seemed much more calm. We took her inside, laid her on our bed, and turned on the television for her. When dinner was ready, she said she wasn’t hungry. We decided it was ok for her not to eat and sat down with John. When I was finished eating, I went to get her and bring her out to the table. Apparently, she was dizzy because the movement made her vomit. I got her into the kitchen where she vomited some more. At that point, we stripped her dirty clothes, cleaned her and the floor up a bit, and knew an ER visit was in order. I called Rachel and she showed up in less than a minute to take John to her house.
Andy, Laura, and I ran out the door to the car and headed for University Women’s and Children’s Hospital. It was a record trip as Andy made it there in eight minutes. By this time, Laura had a fairly good knot on her head and was extremely tired. We checked her in and the nurse did a quick triage to see how serious the case was. They did not seem overly concerned because Laura was not exhibiting any signs of concussion. We waited for a bit longer for a room to open up. Once that happened, we got Laura dressed in a gown and snuggled into her bed.
She was very sleepy as it was her normal bedtime, so she took a nap. While waiting for the doctor, I called Jeremy to see if he could stay with John so that B and Rachel could actually get some sleep. He said he was on the way to our house and at some point Jeremy and Rachel made the “switch off” with John. We also answered some text messages and phone calls so that people would know what was going on.
The doctor arrived around 9:15 pm to examine Laura. She did what she could while Laura slept and then we had to wake her up. That was a difficult task as she was very much asleep. After some effort, we did manage to wake her up enough for an examination. The doctor didn’t seem overly concerned, but still ordered a CAT scan because of the dizziness and vomiting. Laura was such a trooper for the CAT scan! The technician explained everything and Laura was perfectly still throughout the entire thing. She even got to see all the pictures that the CAT scan took. She was very curious about it all and I think the technician got a kick out of her. As a reward, the technician let her choose a toy. Meet “Ella the Elephant”.
When Laura got back to her room, the nurse brought her some medicine to help settle her stomach and some ibuprofen for the pain. By this time, she had had a short nap so she was wide awake and actually happy. After the CAT scan was read, the doctor came in to say that everything looked normal and that they were going to release her. They gave us instructions for the rest of the night and today and let us go home.
We arrived home about 11:45. By the time we got Laura to bed it was after midnight. Laura and I slept on the futon in the office. I set my cell phone alarm and woke her up every two hours. She did really well all night. She woke up this morning around 8:30 am. She was refreshed and looked happy. Her red welt and bruise are almost completely gone. She’ll be back to school tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who called and sent texts. Thanks to B and Rachel and Jeremy for taking care of John. We greatly appreciate it! We survived our first “Adventures in the ER” and the aftermath. Here’s to hoping we don’t repeat that anytime soon!
I took this picture of Laura this morning before she left for Sunday School and Church with Daddy. I promised her that she could be Picture of the Day today since she took such a good picture.
Laura and Andy went to Sunday School and Church without John and I because Laura said that she needed “special Daddy time”. Hard to argue with a five-year old when that is requested.
On another note, John decided today that maybe Sunday School is fun after all. He was quite upset when he didn’t get to go and said, “I want to go to Sunday School.” So, next week, we will definitely go again. Maybe I’ll even get to drop him off in his classroom for once and not have to stay with him the whole time.
It was a busy day today! After a tasty breakfast of bacon and eggs, we headed off to the third birthday party for Alivia Williams, a daycare friend of the kids, at Going Bonkers! It was a really fun time and the kids loved it! They ate rainbow cupcakes and ice cream, played on the equipment, spent their tokens in the arcade, and ate pizza. John had his first experience with Coca-Cola too. While he seemed to like it, he certainly made some interesting faces. I think the highlight of the party for the kids was shooting basketballs in the arcade. They both did surprisingly well!
After an exciting and tiring morning at Going Bonkers, we headed to Hy-Vee to pick up a couple of things, including pumpkins! The kids were very quick to pick out their pumpkins and were very proud afterwards.
Upon arriving at home, we put John down for a nap. Andy and Laura then headed out to the Little Dixie Conservation Area to have a little Daddy/Daughter time. I poured myself a glass of wine and got out my Kindle. I relaxed for thirty minutes or so and then it was off to the “cleaning races.” I cleaned all three bathrooms and straightened up the house, finishing just in time to have a second glass of red wine before I had to make dinner for us and the Lowerys.
We spent part of the evening eating and hanging out with them. It was a good time as always. Great friends always make a day brighter. Now, it’s off to watch a movie with the hubby! I think the movie choice is “Thor.” We’ll see what we both think. 🙂
Kathryn was at the kids’ daycare today because she was off school. After Laura got off the bus, we headed out to pick up John. Laura was so excited to see Kathryn! We ended up staying there for a while so the kids could play. After Andrea arrived to pick up Kathryn, she and I were talking and we made spontaneous plans to head out to their house. The kids spent the evening playing and having a great time! Andrea and I had a couple of glasses of wine and chatted away. It was great and made for a very nice evening!