Unringing the Bell

Accidents Happen

Well, that was a way to start the week!

I woke up with a chest cold which has me coughing like crazy and then, then! Georgia and I fell down the stairs this morning!

I really don't know how it happened. I think I overstepped where the stairs are narrow (because they turn), but I tried to grab onto the landing and also grasp onto Georgia harder and missed being able to hold on for fear of dropping her. Somehow I was able to pull her to me and I did a one eighty and went down the stairs head first on my back. And my knee, and my toe, and my neck, and my elbows....apparently there were few places that didn't get banged up. As the day goes on I am discovering more places that are sore and bruised.

We landed at the bottom with Georgia on top of me. I was actually saved from hitting my head on the solid plaster wall by a box of wipes at the base of the stairs. There is a big head mark in the box. And when we landed? A mirror fell off the wall and landed on us! Thank goodness it didn't break! (We will not be putting the mirror back in that location.)

It took us a minute to be able to get up. I was wedged into the lower stair landing between diaper boxes and stuff and Georgia was on top of me. She was shaken up (as was I), but only cried a little bit. It was scary though because she had a pretty immediate bruise on her forehead and eye and she got a bloody nose. I don't even know what she hit? I called Alex who came right home, but since he is an hour away it took awhile. I was pretty shaken up and crying. Called my dad who helped me calm down. I wasn't sure if I should call 911 for G since she hit her head, but it was pretty clear right away that she was okay and I kept a watch on her pupils (thanks to my dad for reminding me what to do and calming me down!!) I called her pedi about an hour later when they opened, but by then Alex had just come in and she was none the worse for wear other than the bruise. She also seems to have cut her nose and a bruise has developed on her hip as well. But she was in a good mood all day and dancing around. The doctor seemed to think we didn't need to bring her in, which I agreed with--especially because Georgia has a major fear of the doc's office. But of course we have done the AAI x-ray yet and that had me worried. We JUST SPOKE on the phone on Friday about it, the doctor and I! She'll be getting it in a couple weeks. But yeah, G is pretty much fine.

Not so me, sadly. I am pretty banged up. I think, in an effort to keep her as safe as possible, I fell in a crazy way I wouldn't have otherwise. I banged up my knee and my toe and my other shin, and I also hurt my neck and lower back. As the day goes on I am in more pain and tomorrow I expect I will be pretty stiff. I also have this stupid chest cold. So....not fun. To say the least.

The thing I am most struck by is how it hit me emotionally. I felt (and still do feel) guilty that I fell with my daughter in my arms. I hate that she got hurt and am just so thankful that it wasn't worse. At the risk of sounding wacky-woo-woo, I actually had a vision of this happening yesterday. I know I have thought these things before and NOT fallen or whatever, but the premonition I had was of falling WITH Georgia.That and, falling like that when you have no family around? When your husband has to take time off work to come help and he's an hour away? It always seems to hit home that I miss my family. We have friends, we're making more everyday, but wow....it's lonely down here sometimes!

Anyway. She's okay which is the important thing. But it's so scary how quickly an accident can happen. We have been talking about what we can do to make our stairs safer since we moved in and now we know it's a priority. Not sure WHAT we will do just yet, but we have to do something.

So yeah. Klutzy me. Hug your kids tight and watch where you are stepping.

xo

Choo-Choo!

Life is busy. I have a lot to talk about. But sadly, no time to do it. Good things, and unfortunately, not so good things. I have a permanent headache and a million things to do. I've had to be out every night this week and it is not over yet. We are traveling next week. I am attempting to make it to a funeral service in CT mid-week and then we head to New Hampshire for a wedding next weekend.

I'd am stressed out, I won't (can't) lie, but I feel very fortunate. For there is life in the midst of all this running about!

Until then, here's a picture of Rainer enjoying one of his birthday treats. (I would still like to post about that big day!)

Ta-Da!

Today marks: the Halloween holiday of course, my big boy's first birthday (you might have heard tell of this milestone--more pictures forthcoming), and the last day of 31 for 21!

Thanks for coming along for the ride whether you participated by writing or reading some of the great blogs we had signed up. I hope some of you learned something new about Down syndrome, and I know many of you helped shine the light on what it's really like to live with DS. No, it's not all go-go-boots and dance parties, sometimes it's trudging through downpours in toe socks, but so goes life anywhere for anyone, eh?

Hope to see you next year, but I know I, for one, will probably be right back here again tomorrow or the next day with these two littles right here!

The Big O-N-E

Tonight before bed I took a couple pictures of Rainer.* His last night as a less than one year old. I am sadder than I thought I would be, all the typical regrets of a year flying by you--I now feel remorse for the moments that I wished he would roll over or sit up or crawl or walk or sign or talk already (although I don't miss that milk-allergy induced colic all that much, and as Alex said this evening "It took a lot of goat cheese pizzas to get this far!").

I also feel proud. Proud of all the things Rainer has accomplished, and also of Alex and myself for doing the things we did. Those sleepless nights passing the baby back and forth between us, giving up dairy for six months so I could continue breastfeeding until after the allergies abated. We spent many nights (and days really) holding on to the ends of our ropes when the rope was more like thread made from the most delicate of silks. Here we are twelve solid months later with a baby who, though he shows signs of weaning, is still nursing and has the gut to prove it! There were many moments early on when I didn't think I could make it through the week, let alone the year. And I feel good about getting to a point where I not only was ABLE to do it, but enjoyed it as well. I wasn't a natural.

I am also proud of Georgia, who, though she like(d)(s) him in fits and starts WILL begrudgingly kiss him good night (from time to time) and seeks him out as a playmate and doesn't hold back her laughter when he is clearly trying to make her laugh (by doing such things as shaking his head from side to side in the backseat of the car with the sole intent of making her laugh).

Four little people, somehow even down here in the mid-Atlantic away from all our family, are making it. Twelve months; three hundred and sixty.....four days. (I still have until tomorrow evening at 6:22pm, darn it!)

*When I was uploading this picture I noticed the two blocks in it say on one 'R' (for Rainer) and on the other both 0 and 1 (zero going on one). Okay, maybe the zero is really an 'O', but I won't tell if you won't. Oh, and and there's also an owl, which...is just cool.

Nailed It.

I already wrote my post for day 30 (ALREADY, Day 30??!?!?!?) of 31 for 21 (see below), but I just read this post from my friend and former college roommate who just had her first baby (the adorable Miss V) about five months ago and she just pegged this familiar feeling on what it is to be a new mom (or just a mom in general) among friends who do not have children so well I had to share. She is one amazing writer, heck, I recommend her whole blog. Start here.