{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

~ pretty ~

Fresh whole wheat soaked bread... it rises so well!
I have been mostly avoiding wheat and most grains in an effort to lose weight.  After about two weeks of being wheat-free, I made this bread and had a couple slices, slathered in Kerrygold butter - yum, yum, yum!  Soaking the wheat supposedly makes the wheat easier to digest and the nutrients more readily absorbed... but I don't think it makes the bread cause less weight gain, ha!

~ happy ~

These happy little guys add a bit of brightness to my kitchen.  They were only a dollar each at the craft store, and I love them above my sink!

~ funny ~

This one is also happy, because I love hanging out with my brothers.  It is funny because Mike fell asleep on the right there... before anyone else was back at the hotel room and could take a photo of the three of us.  I was visiting their hotel room and watching Pawn Stars with them until our parents got there and took the picture for me.  Also funny was how Mike convinced Tim that they could share this huge king sized hotel bed that night so that he wouldn't have to sleep on the fold-out couch in my family's hotel room.  Tim tried to appeal to Mike's wife, Crystal, over the phone (she was not here) by asking her if she would share a bed with her brother.  When she said, "No, but that's because he's a boy," Tim responded with, "Well, so is Mike!"  Ha!  But even if he hadn't been able to convince Tim, it looks like it would have been useless anyway, since Mike didn't even remember falling asleep here or anything else until he woke up in the morning... he's just like our dad...

Ahh, the joys of a large family... and to think that my parents, all my brothers, and I used to share a basic two-bed hotel room when traveling.

~ real ~

Not only did we get to make our first trip to the ER for an injured child, but it happened on a Sunday while we were 550 miles from home!  Lucy fell and split her lip - it was so deep that it was gaping and looked like a big chunk of lip had been torn out (I know, I know, it makes me cringe, too).  After going to the closed urgent care that would accept our insurance, we went to their open location, only to be told that they can't do anything when there's a gaping hole in the lip, only if it is just a cut.  They sent us to All Children's Hospital downtown.

 

 Apparently this was the clearest photo we got... lucky you for being spared the gore.  This does not do the injury justice, ha ha.  This is out of focus and also was taken several hours after the injury... it happened just after noon, and it was finally being stitched up at 3:30.  This photo was taken sometime between 2 and 3, after it had started trying to heal itself...  If you looked at her from the side, you could see the edge of the cut sticking way out... just like there was a wedge-shaped piece of her lip missing.  I was convinced that part of it was missing, but the doc was positive that it was just a deep split because it still lined up perfectly when the gap was closed. 

 

Poor thing, she looked dazed like this the whole time we sat waiting for the doctor!  She is never as quiet as she was then... First, she nursed for about two hours straight following the injury.  I will let you use your imagination as to how that happened while we drove around trying to find care for the injury!  Breastmilk in the cut and then just to soothe her... thank goodness for toddler nursing.  It would have been hell trying to soothe her any other way!  Once she started nursing, she stopped screaming - it truly was amazing.

 

After holding a q-tip of numbing solution in the gaping part of the wound for a half hour (was supposed to be ten minutes but we overheard that a toddler who got stomped by a horse had just come in; obviously much more pressing than a lip injury, and made us feel blessed and grateful to be there with something so relatively minor!)... the nurse wrapped Lucy up in a sheet to keep her totally still.  This was the worst part.  She hated it.  I am sure she'll have nightmares of that doctor leaning over her face while she was immobilized!  I leaned over her too and talked to her, and he had to put in four stitches - two in the lip itself, and two more right at the bottom where the lip and skin meet and the cut was horizontal (it was basically shaped like a capital L, with several smaller scrapes and minor cuts alongside it).  The doc was confident (almost too confident, in an "I'm awesome" kind of way, ha ha) that there would be no scar and that he had gotten the first stitch in perfectly, which would make sure the lip lined up along the bottom edge when it healed.

These pictures were taken with Daddy after the stitches were done.  I had to use the bathroom while we waited for the discharge papers, and Lucy was not happy at all that I was going to leave her while I went.  Daddy got her to calm down by taking photos together with his phone!  The owl patterned material you see there is a pillow made by some grandmothers for the hospital.  They used it to elevate and stabilize her head while putting in the stitches, and then she got to keep it!  Now she sleeps with it!

I have never seen stitches being put in before, and it was actually very interesting.  Knowing that her lip was numb made it easy for me to watch a needle going through her lip.  I didn't even know that a lip could be stitched before this!

And in case you are wondering just what could make so terrible of a lip injury:

This is the surface where she fell face-first.  It is a hard plastic surface on the basketball/volleyball court at our hotel.  It is not rubbery at all - it is hard, hard plastic, with sharp 90 degree angles on those crosshatch pieces.  My Uncle Paul kept asking if there was some kind of liability on the hotel's part, and he even came over to look at this surface himself!  I will say that it is a pretty unwise surface for a place where people might be falling as they play volleyball or basketball (and Lucy was just walking around on it!) - I bet it would tear up a knee or elbow pretty badly, too!  I was in my parents' hotel room when she fell, and a couple housekeepers heard her crying and followed Chris back to our room to see if they could help.  When he couldn't get me on my cell phone (bad coverage in the hotel rooms), he told the housekeeping lady to call my parents' room.  I happened to answer, and between the distant-sounding landline, the lady's slight accent, and the sound of a baby crying in the background, I had a hard time understanding her.  I finally said, "I can't really understand you - there's a baby crying loudly in the background!"  And then I was able to make out, "Yes, she's hurt!" and I said, "Wait - is that MY baby crying??"  When she said yes, I hung up and ran to our room!

All's well that ends well, though.  It happened on Sunday, and she appears to be healing up decently.  Amazingly, she slept well the next two nights at the hotel, and she never once said that her lip hurt!  The few times I asked her, she said, "No, it all better!"  Tough stuff, that one!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Another structured, weekly theme for a blog post that may get me motivated to post more frequently!  This is an every-Thursday link-up hosted at Like Mother, Like Daughter.

~ Pretty ~

Our Saint Francis statue was the centerpiece at our homeschool group's monthly get-together.  It was my month to plan our activities, so we read a book about St. Francis, colored his picture, played two animal-related games since he is the patron of animals ("I'm Thinking of an Animal" and "Rabbit, Cat, and Dog plus St. Francis"), and ate Critter Crunch!  Here are the leftovers, photographed at home since I can never remember to take pictures at our get-togethers - too busy!  I had set them all out on my pretty bird platter that for some reason says "Not for food" on the back.  Well, the food wasn't directly on the tray's surface, so I am thinking that it's fine!

~Happy~

Nothing says happy like a big mug of hot black tea with milk and a Harvest scented Yankee Candle!

~ Funny ~

While I was cooking dinner, I turned around and was greeted by Lucy's latest endeavor in her busy activity.  She had arranged her church shoes on this upside-down basket.  Perhaps she has a future as a museum curator?

~ Real ~

The fall weather has been making appearances lately!  This is a treat in Georgia, where it is always summer until at least early November, ha ha.Lucy even wore a little cardigan sweater the other day because the wind was a bit chilly.  And can you see the little lip injury?  she bit it because she fell, or something.  I don't remember; injuries happen so frequently with her that it is hard to keep them straight! ;)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lucy!

Lucy turned 2 on September 12!  We celebrated a couple days later on the following Saturday.  Here is her cake - carrot cake with a whipped cream frosting.

 

The birthday banner is officially one year old and has now been used for each of the girls... Lucy twice now!

 

She needed some help blowing out her two candles!

I love this picture.  Such wide eyes.

And I do believe we might have a lefty...

Cecilia enjoyed her cake!

Cousin Julianne and Caroline

Lucy drinks cranberry juice out of a "big girl cup."

Present time!!  No, we did not give Lucy a pound of cheese from Mississippi State for her birthday... the box just happened to be a perfect fit...

 

...for her new water bottle!

I think this might have been her favorite gift.  Anything to be more lie the big kids!

Yes, this is her new smile.  I remember when my youngest brother would do this kind of smile whenever we said, "Tim-Tim, do your grin!"  It's definitely a toddler thing.  Anyway, this baby is from Gramma and Grampa and has since been named "Ganey."  Yes, Lucy already has a Ganey, referred to as such because she was called "Green Baby" by me and "Greeny" by Caroline, which Lucy said as "Ganey."  Never mind that this baby is pink - it has similar hands to Ganey and therefore is another Ganey... like how Caroline had several bears who were all "May-May" when she was two.  I call this baby "Pink Ganey."  Lucy has no concept of color yet.  If you ask her what color something is, it is always "blue."

This is a set of wooden nesting bowls. I highly recommend them - they probably don't look like much for the price, but they are sturdy and well-made and non-toxic, all wood... and all three of my kids have played with them a lot in the play kitchen!  Lucy has put dry oats and play food in them  I find them all over the house.

When she opened them, I said to Lucy, "You can use these bowls to feed your dolls in the little kitchen!"  Apparently she thought I meant right at that moment...

 

Pink Ganey got to try them out before I got Lucy back for the rest of her presents...

 

Gran and Grandad gave her a couple of board books and a cute new outfit - I am excited to see her wear it when it gets a bit cooler.  It was *almost* cold enough last week, but now we are back to normal fall temps for the South...

Caroline was so thoughtful in wanting to give Lucy a present - she made her this necklace with her name on it.

 

This is her last gift from Mommy and Daddy... a toy bucket truck, of course.

 

We have since added a little Lego guy to it - he fits in the bucket perfectly.

 

Uncle Mike, Aunt Crystal, Julianne, and Chloe gave her some new clothes for fall and a baby doll - Lucy carried these two babies around with her for the rest of the day!  She was happy to have some that are just hers!

Happy Birthday, Lucy Marie!!

Lucy's Baptism Anniversary 2013

Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels, and also, Lucy's baptism anniversary!  What a great day to be baptized!

 

I made a banana pudding as a special dessert to celebrate.  A white dessert, good for both baptism and angels.  Of course, when you put meringue in the oven, it browns...

I based this pudding off this recipe here.  I have made it a few times before.  Not as good with tapioca starch instead of flour and minus the vanilla wafers... but still very good!

We lit Lucy's baptism candle... she loved that!

At the end, she "blewed it out."  Well, she tried to... she doesn't quite get how to blow out a flame yet, so I helped her before she caught her hair on fire. ;)

Caroline commented, "It's even more important than a birthday!"  Guess that's why I still haven't put those birthday photos up... or maybe because there are a lot more of them...

Angel of God, my guardian dear,

To whom God's love commits me here,

Ever this day be at my side,

To light and guard, to rule and guide.  Amen.