surviving Garrett

When the twins were still in my belly, Mark and I picked names for them based on their movements. Hudson didn't move all that much but Garrett never stopped. We thought that Garrett sounded better for an active little boy. I wonder now if we had switched the names if Hudson would have been the more active one. We will never know....

Garrett is our accident prone boy. He is always coming to show us his new bumps and bruises. Usually, his head is the brunt of all trauma. A few months ago, we were rushing him off to the hospital with a neck sprain from playing soccer on the porch. Both boys are crazy but Garrett is the one that gets injured.

When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, both boys were in rare form. They were way too wound up from lack of outdoor time (it's still raining). They were running through the house and just being crazy. I tried everything I could to calm them down but nothing worked. Mark got home late and, when he walked through the door, the craziness was almost manic. We were working on getting the kitchen cleaned, Nolan dressed for bed and getting an outfit picked out for Mark's busy day today. The twins were in the back room playing on their chairs - Where the Wild Things Are is having a major effect on them. Mark went outside to get something out of my car, I was in the living room wrestling Nolan into his pajamas when I heard a horrible scream come from Garrett. I rushed towards the back room, Nolan half dress in one arm, and Garrett came around the corner screaming. I dropped to my knees when I saw him. His nose was swollen and there was a cut on the bridge. He also had a mouth full of food and was trying not to choke. I tried to pick him up but couldn't with Nolan in the other arm. Mark came in and I turned Garrett towards him. Mark didn't say anything. He ran into our room to change his clothes and grabbed Garrett and was out the door to the Urgent Care. I started crying. I suspected that Garrett's nose was broken but Mark's urgency in getting him to a doctor was something I had never seen. Hudson and I stood in silence for about 10 seconds after they rushed out the door. Hudson turned to me and asked if I was okay - bless him. We went into the living room so that I could finish putting Nolan's pajamas on. Hudson just sat on the couch while I put Nolan down to sleep. I think we were both in shock. Everything had happened so fast.

I called mom to let her know that I would need help with Halloween costumes. I was crying and a bit irrational. Really? Halloween costumes? Last night was my only free night to get things done and I just crumbled. She raced up to see if we were okay - mostly she wanted to make sure I was okay. Hudson and I were in the living room, watching the weather, waiting for Mark to call. I contemplated going up to the Urgent Care but Mark called with the news of a broken nose and that they would be home soon. Garrett was getting his third round of x-rays but the doctor felt that it was just a fracture and that Garrett would be fine. I breathed a sigh of relief and Hudson calmed down a bit. I need to be better about making sure that I don't get too emotional in front of Hudson. He is a very concerned child and I don't know if I did more harm than good in letting him know how upset I was about Garrett. Live and Learn.

Garrett resembles a boxer... a boxer that lost his fight.

He decided that gummy bears wouldn't work and that a Popsicle was the only thing that would make him feel better.

See that chair over his on the right? That was the chair that he "jumped" in to. He did a little reenactment for us. I think he may have been acting out "a Wild Rumpus".

This is how he looked this morning. He slept well - thank goodness. He is sore this morning and taking a lot of care not to let anything near his nose. I'm hoping that his eyes don't swell anymore and that the bruising stays to a minimum. I think I lost about 2 years of my life and gained a bazillion gray hairs last night. I know that this is nothing compared to what could have happened, or what will happen in the future. I don't do well with injuries - apparently. We will have to follow up with our ENT to make sure that surgury is not necessary but it looks like we'll just chalk this up to a "remember that time Garrett jumped into the Las Alemedos chair" story.