OUCHIE!!!

So today was one of those days. I went to bed late last night and awoke to my children picking on each other at 6am. Actually, it started out as a cute scene played out over the baby monitor: Andrew decided to check on Baby Sister instead of coming in and waking me up. He climbed into her crib (ack!) and woke her up. He showed her all of her toys (Glow Worm and her musical aquarium toy). She enjoyed it for a minute, then started crying. Nope...no magic fairy was going to make my kids magically fall asleep at that point, so I had to get up and split up the Tragic Duo.

The day went downhill from there. Lots of tears and tantrums (from the kids of course). Even two cups of coffee and a trip to the gym didn't help Mom's coping abilities much. Mike is training for his half marathon, so he didn't get home until two hours later than usual. I was thoroughly burnt out by the time he got home. Non-productive, tantrum-laced days tend to do that to me. I was tired of whining and was looking for my second wind. Dinnertime was fast approaching, so I reached for the cop-out dinner: breakfast for dinner. After making some eggs and bacon, I was starting to set the table when IT happened.

Andrew slammed Natalies hand in the back door. Now, when I say slammed, I mean slammed...with all of his might.

I'm not sure how or why it happened, but it did. Our neighbor watched it happen and said that Natalie put her hand up right as he slammed the door with full force. I knew he felt bad immediately, but Mike flipped out on him anyway. I ran to Natalie to see if her hand was broken. Fortunately it is just swollen and cut up a little, but she was HOWLING. I tried to comfort her (and Andrew) at the same time...not a good idea because her hysterics just made him more scared. After talking to Lisa (my friend who's an ER nurse), I decided not to take her into the ER. She could grab stuff, but not very tightly.

By the end of the night (and after some ibuprofin), Alie had forgotten all about her little puffy hand. I even showed it to Andrew so he could stop worrying so much. After the kids' baths and bedtimes, it was time for Mom to take a super hot bath...laced with a couple of beers for good measure. I now look like I have a sunburn, but I am feeling far better than I was a few hours ago. Now for some good restorative sleep. Tomorrow HAS to be better.