m.a.i.l. t. ime: our first trip to the ER! yikes!

Last night we were at an extended family Christmas party all having a great time, the boys love this side of the family gatherings because there are 35 great-grandkids to play with, when we had a little accident! Levi was playing by with his cousin when he fell over backwards right into the metal railing of the stairs. He immediately started screaming so I picked him up and everyone said, "he's bleeding, he's bleeding!!!" and sure enough he had blood all down his head and on my hands. Mark took him and we got a towel and applied pressure, but knew we needed to get to the Emergency Room for a doctor to see it. Thankfully Mark's grandma lives just behind Covenant so it was a 5 minute drive away! We thought we'd leave Isaiah at the party and go, but with all of the commotion and with Levi bleeding, Isaiah started screaming at the thought of us leaving him there (in any other circumstance, I don't think he would have noticed if we left him). So Grandma Cindy said, "Go, I'll be right behind you." And off the four of us went. Levi was still bleeding and we were all a little scared, so Mark held Levi in the front seat while I drove (don't tell the police!). We made it to the ER and they took us right back to a room. Luckily by this time the bleeding had stopped and all Levi wanted to do was get down and explore. Grandma Cindy arrived with a few Christmas gifts to keep both boys distracted (Good idea!! Thank you!!). But before we knew it this really nice doctor came in to look at Levi. She was so nice and gentle with him. She told us that he needed to have the cut stapled or glued and gave us information on both. We decided to have it stapled. She then looked over Levi quickly and said, "Has his ears been bothering him? or is he teething?" and what do you know, he also had an ear infection. (I wasn't surprised because he was really cranky the day before and his first molars are popping through). Poor little boy. Anyway, she left, Levi played in the sink and Isaiah and grandma went off to explore the hospital. A few minutes later the doctor came back with a nurse to staple him up! (yikes!) They had me hold him and told me to hold him tight. The nurse then looks at me and says, "Are you okay?" I just looked at her, and she says, "why don't you sit down?" So I did. They quickly cleaned his cut with alcohol and then put two little staples in his head. He SCREAMED for about 30 seconds and then was just fine. He wanted to get down and explore. They hadn't taken any of Levi's insurance information or even his basic information yet, so we went out to give that. Levi was happy and walking around. You wouldn't have guessed that he just had his head stapled without any numbing and that he had an ear infection. We decided to go back to the Christmas party -- we wanted to make sure everyone knew he was okay - and we didn't want Isaiah to miss out on the fun (Santa was just about to arrive at the party!!!).

Whew! What a night! I'm still shocked that our whole trip to the emergency room only took 45 minutes and that Levi was such a trooper!

Our little patient

Thanks grandma for coming to help and for thinking to bring toys to distract!

His little ow-ey. (the next day, it doesn't look too bad, does it?)

Back at the party.
Santa brought Isaiah a really fun Cranium Polar Bear game

and he brought Levi the book "Little Hands Love" Levi wasn't sure of him, so he just watched Santa from a distance.

Presents from Great Grandma! Look at all the kids -- that's only about half of them! Isaiah got his first set of "real" Legos (which he has already spent lots of time with and LOVES) and Levi got a Build-a-Bear that's white with red and blue stars. She named him Iron Man, which is the name of Mark's Army Unit. Thank you so much Great Grandma!!