Finding normal again... and a Flash Mob, too!

The last month has been anything but normal around here.  It started out beautifully with Dagny's 1st ice skating experience on the first... she begged to go back and Pop Pop even sprung for a pair of skates and a helmet.  He had promised us that if she ever wanted to play hockey, he'd foot the bill, so we were excited when he was giddy to order her gear!

The night after this photo was taken she was playing on the playground at the Ranch and took a spill... off the top of the playground... and hit her face on a step on the way down.

I was at the store, I got the call saying that she had fallen and was ok, so we headed for the car to head back.  A few minutes later I got a call to meet them at the ER and my heart dropped.  I got there first and started checking in so when they arrived we could go back.  After half an hour of screaming, her daddy had the brilliant idea of putting on an episode of Batman.  She calmed down.  Have I mentioned how much I love that man!?  The freaking out ensued as soon as the doctor came in... 30 minutes later she had a few stitches inside her upper lip and we headed home. No broken bones... no concussion... no permanent damage... I was so relieved.

The next morning she woke up and the swelling was a little worse than we had anticipated.  After checking in with the pediatrician, we were sent up to an ENT to have her checked out (to rule out broken bones).  They took us back right away and Dr. Epstein, our new doctor and now one of my favorite doctors ever, took a look at her.  He gently informed us that it was a hematoma, the blood pooled up in her cheek, and that it would have to be drained. He called over to the hospital (which is next door to his office) and booked an OR. It suddenly got real.

I kept my cool for the next few hours as we waited for her to go back and was very thankful as Joe said he'd go in with her (one of us had to).  She, on the other hand, didn't have a care in the world.  She knew she had a boo boo, but was playing with dolls and toys, watching movies, telling everyone about Batman and Superman, and then playing with the lockers.  While I never wanted her to ever go through this, the silver lining is that she's two and didn't grasp the gravity of it all!

Thanks to Dr. Epstein, her short surgery went swimmingly well and we were back to see her in recovery within the hour (maybe longer, who knows!)!  I only lost it once through all of the ordeal-- when Joe took her back for surgery-- and am very thankful for a short phone call with Jeffo who said exactly what I needed to hear (he's a PA who does orthopedic surgeries almost daily!).  We got her home that night, just thankful for it all to be over!

The weeks that followed were full of children's Tylenol and antibiotics (and the resulting diarrhea). As soon as she was off the meds, literally that day, she caught a horrible cold and had a fever for a few days.  She was really in great spirits considering what had been happening, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that her Daddy and I weren't absolutely exhausted from it all!  We were so relieved to have her healthy by last weekend-- just in time for the White Flint Camp Fair, a huge weekend for us camp peeps!

Not only did she walk around the fair and collect camp-swag from all of the camps (as if she has a choice as to where she goes!), she even danced in the Flash Mob!  Yes, my brilliant hubby had the great idea of holding a Flash Mob at the Camp Fair... let's face it, if "Party Rock" is playing, our campers will be there!

We had an amazing turnout and I'm so glad that we were able to end such an icky month with a huge dose of positivity and fun (and some booty shakin'!)! You barely see her in this (she's in the center of everyone down towards the bottom of the screen), but you get to see her Dad rocking with all of the wonderful staff and kids!

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to moving on to February and finding our "normal" again-- whatever that may be!