life....by Lu

luci has permission to use our old digital camera...she doesn't use it everyday, but when she does use it she takes HUNDREDS of photos.  

i love looking at life through her lens...

hugh's new ball

some bunny got a new ball for valentine's day from grandma & grandpa pierse.  

some bunny really, really, really likes it.  

and some bunny's mama really, really likes her new hat.  

thank you grandma & grandpa pierse...for just being you :)

sweet sibling snuggle

yep, while watching tv.  

but i'm not complaining...i'll take loving behavior however it comes ;)

first (ten) stitches

glue, she's had.  but this was her first boo boo that required stitches.  last thursday afternoon while riding bikes on the driveway my girl crashed.  there was an obstacle course involved.  a helmet was not.  i had just stepped outside with hugh - my pretty girl & loving big sis turned to look at her huey, therefore turning her wheel, and running it into an obstacle.  a little green tractor & wagon, to be exact.  it was like i saw the entire thing in slow motion.  wheel turn, hit tractor, slow topple down, forehead hits the driveway and literally bounces...i knew it was gonna be bad.  and it was.  blood was squirting (for lack of a better word) from her forehead.  she got right up, screaming of course, but got up on her own.  we thought she had just scratched her head on a rock, but as time went on it was clear that the sheer force of hitting the driveway just split her little head open in two spots.  luckily grandma pierse was here, cause i freak out at stuff like this.  (the first time lu got a bloody lip i literally carried her down the street to miss amanda's house, full of blood, cause i didn't know what to do.)  my first instinct was to put her in the van & take her to the ER, just because i saw the whole thing & i knew her head had hit hard.  oh, and also because there was BLOOD SHOOTING OUT FROM HER FOREHEAD.  i scooped her up, put her in the van, ran in & got a wash cloth, and took off.  i called clay & as we asked luci, "does your head hurt, does your stomach feel like you are going to throw up", etc, we decided maybe we didn't need to go.  i had pulled over to mull turning around, largely because i know i usually overreact with these types of things, but ultimately we decided there was no good reason to mess around with a hard bump to the head.

10 minutes later we were in the same ER we were at last fall when she fell off the monkey bars.  she looked a mess just because there was so much blood, so we got into a room fast.  the nurse & doctor did an initial look, and then a few ambulances rolled in...and we waited, and waited, and waited.  all the while i'm feeling silly like i should just take her home & she'll be all right.  then the nurse came back in & got the wounds cleaned up...at which point we realized they were big.  and deep.  and then we started talking stitches.  

lu freaked out.  her head hurt, and she was tired, scared, and wanted to go home.  we waited another 45 minutes, and then the nurse started the numbing cream.  another long while went by, and then the doctor was back...but after one stitch, it was clear the numbing cream hadn't worked.  lu was near hysterical when the dr put the first stitch in.  like fists clenched, knees pulled up to belly, heaving sobs and screams.  it was awful.  so they decided to do a shot of lidocaine.  i thought this was a good thing - till i saw the giant needle...and watched the nurse pull the wounds open so the dr could shoot the lidocaine up & down the entire length of each wound.  it was sooo hard to watch.  i got faint...had to take off all of my layers & sit down.  luci was increasingly hysterical and the larger wound was bleeding a ton...it kept pooling in the corner of her closed eye.  the nurse was holding the wound open & the dr was shooting the lidocaine so there weren't really hands or room to soak up the blood.  and i was feeling like i might throw up or faint....so i sat down, held my girl's hands while she screamed and told her over & over how brave she was & how great she was doing.  

finally the stitches were in.  luci sobbed the entire time.  she kept wanting to know what her head looked like, so i kept taking pictures & showing them to her.  thus my documentation.

 this was after the first stitch that hurt her like crazy, but pre lidocaine.  

all finished.  3 in the smaller wound, 7 in the larger.

yesterday we went to the doctor to have them removed.  she had a SERIOUS amount of angst about getting them out, fearing it would hurt as much as getting them in.  we reassured her over & over it wouldn't.  when we arrived the nurse asked why we didn't just go back to the place that put them in, cause they usually take them out for free.  she asked if i wanted to call back to the ER.  i assured her that any further delay would cause my girl so much angst that i just wanted them out, and now.  the sooner the better.  said nurse was very, very gentle & careful.  but slow.  very slow.  like 30 minutes slow.  which was an eternity for my girl.  there were a lot of tears and a bit of hysteria, but i am certain it was 95% emotionally driven and only 5% actual discomfort.  here she is in the van right after getting them out, wanting to know what she looked like.

 and then feeling much better with a little coldstone to help her forget the whole ordeal.  and no, she didn't eat all of it, but she wanted two different scoops and i wasn't about to say no.

and here she is even better after we found a new hello kitty hat.  most scaring happens in the first year and sun exposure makes the scar worse, so we need to be very diligent with the sunscreen here in the mile high city.

the new fabulous hat that she's excited to wear should help our cause.

so....why wasn't she wearing a helmet you ask?  cause when she was just a wee tot starting out she was so slow & careful it seemed like an over precaution.  however now that she's a big kid, on a big kid bike, without training wheels, we have a new rule, one that should have been implemented when the training wheels came off or really even long before that.  if  you are on something with 2 wheels (scooters or bikes), driveway or not, you are wearing a helmet.  

both she & gus seem to understand why and haven't complained a bit, and appropriately so.