When Babies Attack!

To the casual observer, they appear to be cute, little things, incapable of much else other than cooing and rolling over. But those that have experienced an attack know all too well what happens when one comes too close to those sharp little teeth and fingernails. There is rarely a warning, and injuries can be serious. Follow along and see what happens when babies attack!

On Sunday afternoon at approximately 3:30 pm, I was the victim of a baby attack. Cormac was sitting on my lap, happy as can be, when all of a sudden, Bam! His finger went straight into my eye. There was no warning. I couldn't see, and tears were pouring from my eye just as fast as expletives were pouring from my mouth.

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but this seriously hurt. I mean, I can stand a whole lot of pain; when one of my lumbar discs herniated two years ago, I dealt with the pain for four days before I went into see a doctor (not necessarily a great decision). Heck, I had a baby! But this eye pain was bad enough that I called Chris to come home from work so that I could go to the urgent care clinic.

And then I sat in the urgent care exam room for four hours. Not that they weren't doing their job, it's just that as far as injury triage goes, I was at the low end of the totem poll. So I sat in the exam room with my eyes closed and tried not to think about how long I had been there. After a couple hours I turned off the lights and curled up on the padded bench. Sleep was not an option, however. Imagine a piece of sand paper being held on the center of your eye - it hurts even when your eye isn't moving, but with even slight movement, like your pupil dilating or constricting with changes in the light, there is intense pain.

Finally, after I had been there about three hours, I just started crying. I was hungry, tired, thirsty, and in pain. And then the doctor came in. So that was embarassing. But he put in these numbing drops and within seconds I had no pain. Hallelujah! That lasted for about an hour - enough time for them to do an eye exam, diagnose me with a corneal abrasion, write me a few prescriptions for vicodin and eye drops, and send me out the door. Then the pain came back, but this time I was armed with vicodin. And while that only took some of the pain away, it also made me not care so much. I love narcotics.

I am still on the road to recovery today (Wednesday). My eye is still pretty sensitive to light and my vision is definitely blurred. On the other hand, my eye is not swollen shut, I can actually keep it open for an extended period of time, and the pain is pretty well controlled with periodic doses of ibuprofen.

So the next time you're around a baby, be a bit more weary. Injuries usually occur quickly and without warning. You never know what the outcome will be when babies attack!

If by 4 you mean 4-ish, then, yes, we'll be there

We suck at being on time. Case in point: We went to a wedding yesterday that started at 4 pm. What time did we show up? 4:10. We had to sneak in a side door between between when the bridesmaids made their entrance and the bride's walk down the aisle. We actually saw the bride out in front of the church before we went in. (Sorry, Joanna.) But she did look very beautiful.

Another example: my good friend Kate's wedding (maybe people shouldn't be inviting us to weddings). The event took place up at Peaceful Valley Ranch in the mountains, and the ceremony was up above the complex in a pretty, little outdoor area, to which you had to take a shuttle. We got there so late that we actually had to ride up to the ceremony with the bride. (Sorry, Kate.) She also looked very beautiful.

I remember a conversation Chris and I had one night (before Chubbs was born) as we were driving to meet friends at a bar, and we were late as usual:
Me: I think we're just doomed to be that family that always shows up late to everything.
Chris: Don't be so pessimistic; maybe we can change. We should work on that.
Me: Yeah, maybe, but I'm really not seeing it.
Chris: We could make sure we schedule things really well and start leaving early for things.
Me: uncontrollable laughter. Umm, sure.

Nope, we're doomed.

I think I'm being played

Why is it that every time I put Chubbs down for a nap, he sleeps for an hour, tops, and then wakes up and wants to eat?  When Chris puts him down, he'll sleep for two to three hours without a peep.  This morning he slept for an hour, then woke up all big-eyed and ready to go.  Maybe he senses that I'm a sucker and will go get him the moment he makes a noise.  I should probably stop doing that.

Oh well.  At least we can go grocery shopping before the store gets crazy.

Gross, both outside and inside

It is snowing/sleeting/raining outside today, and there are big piles of slush/snow everywhere, which means I will, under no circumstances, be heading out for a walk today.  Luckily, Morris had a long day at doggie daycare (yes, doggie daycare) yesterday, and is currently passed out in his bed.  Cormac is also passed out in his bed after a long morning of trying out convertible carseats (on which we spent waaaay too much money).

So, since I had a little time on my hands, I thought I'd clean out the fridge.  Here is a sampling of what I found:

A container with a few baby carrots and two cherry tomatoes, with a sell-by date of 2/24/08.  Covered in mold.

A small bowl of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce from who knows when.  I think these may still be  OK.

A yogurt container with some unidentifiable leftovers that look vaguely like cole slaw.  Covered  in mold.

The heels from three loaves of bread.

Two half-used bottles of teriyaki sauce.

And, drumroll please, some cut up winter squash from December of 08.  Covered in mold that  looks like blue cheese.

I took all of this, and more, out of the fridge, got overwhelmed, and put it all back in.  My reasoning was that since it is snowing/sleeting/raining outside, I wouldn't be able to take the garbage out right away, and I didn't want the squash with blue cheese mold stinking up the house.  So everything is still in the fridge, and I am online.

Easter

Because we are lucky enough to have both Chris's and my family close by, holidays are always very busy and filled with massive amounts of food. This year we had brunch at my parents' house with all the Denver family; there were 16 people there, a small fraction of the many, many relatives I have. The food was, as always, delicious. Cormac, however, was interested in something else:

Champagne - my kinda kid!

At least he had some water, too.

After Cormac woke up from a long nap (no, he didn't actually get any champagne) we headed over to Chris's Grandma's place for dinner. Cormac got to meet some of Oma's friends and munch on a bunny.

Happy Easter!

Someone get me a pin before my head floats away...

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself this evening.  I successfully accomplished several necessary and not-so-necessary-but-interesting things today.  I say successfully because sometimes I accomplish things, but they're not terribly successful.  For an example, see the previous post about laundry.

Here are today's achievements:

1. Chubbs slept until 7:15 this morning, which means I accomplished some extra sleep.

2. Combined a walk for Morris with a nap for Chubbs and a trip to the local bike store for a tire patching kit.  I love multitasking.

3. Fixed the tire on our stroller with said tire patching kit.  This also required getting the tire off the wheel, which was no small feat. 

4. Figured out how to make this blog look way more interesting.  Html=confusing.

5. Chubbs napped in his crib for both his morning and afternoon naps, with only one minor awakening.  Hallelujah!  Apparently the kid just wanted to be swaddled.  Although now he looks like a mini sarcophagus.

6. And last, but not least, I wore real clothes (read: not sweatpants) for four whole hours!

I totally rock.