This morning, Lilly was a little bit more clingy than usual. She kept telling us that her "eye was sick" and wanted lots of hugs. Since Lilly's visit with Jim to the hospital, Lilly often asks to go as she equates it to a trip to the aquarium. She saw a fish tank, got stickers, saw a nice doctor and came home to pizza and a movie. What's not to love? Anyway, since then, Lilly has been telling us that her _________ (insert any body part here) is sick and that she needs to go back to the "hopital." So I didn't think too much of her saying that her eye was sick. After about an hour of this, Lilly turned down breakfast (which she never does) and went and sat on my bed, where she said she'd like to have a sleep to make her eye get better. A few minutes later, she was indeed sick. And it wasn't her eye that was sick. She threw up all over the bed, and managed to nail two pillows, both sheets and the duvet cover. Tuesday was shaping up to be more interesting than normal. Luckily, Mum and Dad were here to give extra hugs, help wash sheets and look after Jack while I put Lilly in the bath and then read books with her.
Lilly recovered quickly, and after a little rest this morning, seemed to be her happy self. She kept telling us she was hungry, said her eye and her tummy were all better and this morning's little adventure was in the past. Cue Tuesday afternoon. After Lilly slept for 3 hours, she came downstairs and had a quesadilla for afternoon tea. Jack was asleep in his bouncy chair. Dad and I were sitting looking at some new running shoes online. Mum was upstairs. All of a sudden, we heard about four or five loud thuds. And not the good kind of thuds. The kind of thuds that indicate someone had fallen down the stairs. Dad and I both got to the bottom of the stairs before Lilly started screaming--a scream that I have never heard before. Dad remained calm, picked her up, stopped her screaming and handled the situation as only a "dad of four kids who has clearly experienced situations like this before" would. I, on the other hand, took one look at the blood pouring out of Lilly's nose, came close to bursting into tears, kept saying "oh my god" over and over again, and couldn't stop my legs from shaking. Not exactly "mother of the year" material here, but I have never experienced the feeling that I felt when I heard that scream. What do you do when such a little, innocent, happy person who you love more than words can describe is screaming and has a look of terror on her face? Lilly stopped screaming quickly and asked for a "huggie" and her one. So Dad recommended that I sit on the couch with her so we could see how she was. Amazingly, she kept saying her nose hurt. Her nose. After talking to her after the fall, we learned she was going up the stairs and fell down 8 or 9 stairs. And all she hurt was her nose? It just goes to show how resilient children are. No broken bones. No chipped teeth. Just a bit of a swollen nose, which will probably be gone when she wakes up in the morning.
I felt helpless when I heard Lilly screaming. If Dad wasn't here, what would I have done? I wouldn't have been able to react the way I did. I would have had to be in control. I would have had to be the calm presence and think rationally. I'm thankful that Mum and Dad were here when this happened, and while I hope nothing like this happens again, I'm sure that with our active little ones, this is just the beginning.
We were all laughing at dinner tonight. Jack, Lilly and I added a little bit of excitement into Mum and Dad's lives today; probably a bit more than they would have liked. But, at the end of the day, everyone was smiling--even Jack, who learned how to smile this week. We had a few extra glasses of wine, gave Jack and Lilly a few extra hugs, and have some extra stories to tell.
Let's just say I'm glad this day has come to an end, and I'm hoping Wednesday is a little bit calmer.
Jack is 7 weeks old today!
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