Just another day...

Oh, it's been all kinds of fun in this house over the past 15 hours!

Grace takes Tae Kwon Do twice a week at Lifetime Fitness. Loves it. Never thought she'd attach to it like she has, but she's very into it. She's been known to do her routine in Lowe's.

Last night David and I took her about 40 minutes north to her Tae Kwon Do teacher's studio or dojo or whatever it's called to test for her yellow belt. Very exciting. We thought the testing would take, oh, 15 minutes.

We got up there and loved every second of watching her do her thing (with 40 other folks ranging in age from 4 to 44) but soon realized that 15 minutes wasn't to be. The lady next to us said this would take 2-3 hours. Hmmmm.

David's mom was at home with Jack, Henry, and George. David had left his phones in his truck thinking that all would be fine, plus he didn't want his phone to ring in the dojo/studio/place.

We had told Sharon we'd be home around 8:00, so at 7:40 I told David he should go call her to tell her that 8:00 wasn't to be.

He went outside to call her, and I glanced over and saw him motioning for me to come outside. I thought, "Oh great. Who threw up?"

No one threw up, but Henry had fallen off of his bike, and Sharon was afraid he needed stitches. She had called, but of course we hadn't answered.

Now, I TOTALLY trust Sharon. I also know that face wounds bleed...a lot. So I thought it was possible that it was bleeding enough that it LOOKED like it needed stitches but, in fact, maybe didn't. So, for a second opinion, I called Fabulous Heather across the street and asked her to go take a look.

I called the house a few minutes later to receive Heather's assessment.

"Uh...oh...um...yeah," says Heather, trying to be completely non-excited right in front of Henry. "I think we need an ER. Like, now."

Meanwhile, board breaking was ensuing in the dojo/studio/place. I said to David, "Oh, well Grace has never done this. I don't think the white belts do this."

"Yes, they do," he answered.

I'm sorry. What? She's going to break a board with some part of her body having never practiced that before? Well, at least we have a scheduled trip to the ER in place, so if anything goes awry she can just tag along.

She indeed broke the board --- with her foot --- and was not injured. Hallelujah. Then some other kid kicked the board with the top of his foot incorrectly and I was sure he DID break his toes. I told his mom that I had an extra seat in Heather's ambulance if he needed it.

The coordination began. Now, my husband is fantastic, but coordination, especially in the midst of an emergency, isn't always his strong suit. He suggested that I take his truck to the ER and he would take Grace to the pizza joint next door and I could then pick them up after the ER visit.

Uh, ER visits don't last 20 minutes.

He then suggested that his mom put the three boys in the car and drive them all the way to the dojo/studio/place and then she and Jack and George would stay at the dojo/studio/place while I took Henry to the ER.

Um, no.

I said, "David, this is what I do. I'll handle it." But I always appreciate his effort. Love you, muffin!

Heather put Henry in her car and brought him up to the dojo/studio/place and took both of us to the ER while David stayed with Grace and then got her dinner at 9:30 (since we had no idea this would take this long at the dojo/studio/place and she hadn't had dinner) and took her home.

The guy next to David was like, "How are you going to handle THIS?" I said, "Sir, please, this is nothing."

I briefly spoke to Henry on the phone and said, "Heather is going to bring you up here." He said, with zero emotion, "Yeah. I fell off my bike. I think I need to go to the hospital for stitches."

Then Jack wanted to chat. He asked if he could go with us. I said No. He fell into a crying heap. I hung up.

30 minutes later Heather arrived and off to the ER we went.

We got to the hospital where I first was able to see the wound and I, too, had to feign calm in the midst of panic. It was not good. Henry climbed out of the car and as we were walking in he says, "Mom, that says 'Emergency'."

"Yes, Henry, it does."

"Why doesn't it say 'Room'?"

Who knows.

We basically got right in. The doc came in and I said, "This can't be glued, can it?"

"Uh, no."

I have never seen anything like this. It literally looked like he had two mouths. He hit it right on the sweet spot where your chin meets your neck and the whole thing just split open to within about 1 mm of the bone.

They put a numbing medicine on it, and Henry slept through all NINE stitches. Yes, nine stitches. Heather's standing there a bit teary-eyed saying, "Oh, this sweet boy. I think he's my favorite now," and then almost threw up because I had stupidly said something about MRSA and she was suddenly aware that she'd touched a chair in the waiting room and then put gum into her mouth without sanitizing her hands and she could feel the staph infection pulsing through her veins (plus, the stitching process wasn't the prettiest sight in the world and she did have a front-row seat, seeing how she was being the maternal one), while I stood there simply studying how stitches are really done. Me, the ever un-emotional parent.

The triage nurse came in to see how Henry was doing. She said, "I didn't want to overreact, but that was a very bad cut."

We arrived home at 12:30 this morning. David got up at 3:30 to go to work.

I can only imagine what today will bring. One thing I KNOW it will bring is some coffee and something I should not eat...like a whole cake.

Hope you have a less eventful weekend (though the acquisition of the yellow belt is one piece of very exciting news around here!). And, for the record, she nearly kicked the crap out of the two boys she had to spar with. You go girl!

My sweet Henry this morning. Stoic as always.

There are nine. You can count 'em to be sure!

Gracey Kate's debut

Several weeks ago, Grace came home from school and announced that there was a talent show happening and she wanted to be in it.

Fine.

She then mentioned that she'd need this, that, and the other thing for the audition.

Audition? What audition? You mean that 3rd graders have to audition for a talent show? Like, some kids (who are as young as 5, seeing that kindergarten was included as well) might not get in? Icky. Didn't like that. I mean, these are the sorts of moments when you realize that there are experiences to be had as a parent for which you can positively never be prepared.

I quickly realized, however, that perhaps this provided a good opportunity for her to try out for something, have to practice, believe in herself, and possibly deal with being told, "No."

Although, I was perfectly willing to put a smile on my face and then slap the person who told her No.

So, she selected a song and practiced and practiced (and practiced). In the bathtub, in the shower, in bed at midnight. I downloaded the karaoke version of her song and, even after insisting that she couldn't sing "without the real singers," she figured out how to do it.

So, today was the day. She sat stoically (those of you who know her will totally be able to see this) in her spot as #17 for about an hour before it was her turn. No emotion on her face. I thought I was going to throw up.

At one point, when I noticed that some kids were holding the mic (and knowing she had planned for it to remain on its stand so that she could do the arm movements she'd choreographed), I sneaked over and asked her if she planned to hold the mic or not.

"I don't know, Mom." Didn't even look at me.

I immediately returned to my seat.

When it was her turn, she got up there and did her thing like she's been doing it all her life. In front of the entire K-5 classes AND all of their parents! She indeed held the mic and modified her arm movements accordingly. We were very proud of her! We told her what a great job she did when she was finished and she said, "I was really scared. Really scared. Terrified. Really scared." We said, "Yes, but you did it anyway. That's so great!"

"Yeah, really scared."

Now she's talking about hosting a penguin or something for the summer. I don't care if there are auditions for this. We're not doing it.

Newsflash: We are referral-less

I have no idea what's happened, but I'm laughing (otherwise I'd cry) because I've gotten a flood of emails in the last twenty minutes all from sweet, lovely people who, for some reason, think we've gotten our referral!

We have not. After 18+ weeks on the Ethiopian wait list (and that's after 5+ months on the Guatemalan wait list), we are still referral-less, but hopeful!

I am, however, hoping that all these folks thinking we did is either creating the energy that will cause us to get "the call," or is some sort of psychic vision on all of their parts, also indicating the the referral is coming...like...in 3 minutes or less.

We only know that the folks at #1 on boys (Paschalls) and the family at #3 on girls have received their referrals. Given that we were #4, the fact that those at #3 got their referral might create suspicion that we're now #1. HOWEVER, the family who was at #3 was open to a girl aged 0-24 months and they received a referral for a toddler. So, if the folks at #1 and #2 are waiting for a girl aged 0-12 months, and I think they are, and have not received their referrals, then we are still at #3. So, we're either #3, #2 or #1. But we are not referred. That much I know!

Now, does anyone have a CLUE what family is at #2 or #1 or know anything about their status? I've heard of a single break in the chain where a family remains anonymous, but two? I've not heard of that. I'm thinking that the families who are #1 and #2 are celebrities. A bit of sarcasm there, but that's how invisible they've been!

So, does anyone have ANY idea who is #1 or #2 (or where I actually fall on the referral list)? Trust me, when we DO get our referral, the entire world will hear about it!

Experimenting with some video

Okay, so amidst my lack of anything to do (tee hee), I dove into one of my latest professional projects. I'm releasing a new website soon, and I need to test how the video portions are going to work. So, here's a little montage for your viewing pleasure and my testing un-pleasure. What happened to my little munchkins????