Another Knock to the Head

Okay, how did that just happen? It was about 10:45 a.m. or so this a.m., and I am in the bathroom brushing my teeth trying to finish getting ready to head out the door. My husband just got home for a quick 20 minute break to see his precious daughter before leaving for a business luncheon at 11:00 a.m.

Well, I am brushing my teeth, and my sweet, little Annabelle comes trotting into the bathroom to find me. I'm watching her, trying to prevent her from opening the toilet lid to splash in the toilet bowl and trying to prevent her from falling head first into the shower while at the same time trying to brush my teeth, and next thing I know, she takes a stumble to the ground.

No big deal, right? She stumbles ALL of the time. And, it looked like she caught herself with her hands as she always does. She apparently had tripped over the rug in the bathroom.

Well, she cries a little bit, and I am so used to her stumbling and crying for sympathy when she is tired. And, she is getting tired because nap time is around 11:00 a.m. So, I say, "Annabelle, you're alright, aren't you?" I pick her up and prop her on her feet and send her on her merry way, and she's fine again...no more whimpering. She did not cry long or very hard.

About that time, her Daddy walks in to rescue her, and he picks her up to hold her. I look at her, and there it is...another knock to the head! This time it was to her forehead. The goose egg and bruise quickly begin to form, and my heart aches for my little girl.

I still cannot comprehend how she got a goose egg out of that fall, but she did. I guess the tile floors should explain it. The dangers lurk everywhere! It doesn't matter how cautious you are, there is ALWAYS something that can really hurt them...even when you are right there watching them 24/7. I guess the rest remains in God's hands. He is there to catch them when they fall when we cannot catch them.

Maybe this was a learning experience for me too. I've been putting off getting those corner things to put on the end tables to prevent babies and toddlers from cracking their heads open on the corners because the ones I've found stick to the furniture, and being the selfish one I sometimes am, I didn't want to mess up my precious furniture! I am not a big fan of babyproofing anyway as I think you should let your child explore and just watch them, but I now think the corners are a GREAT idea. I thank God that she hasn't tumbled into one of those corners yet. Now that would be devastating! I just didn't realize how dangerous the corners can be until she took this little stumble on the bathroom tile floor.

So, she seems fine. I tried to apply a "Rapid Relief" cold compress to her little forehead, but she wanted nothing to do with that at all. I was able to apply it for a little while, but not very long. It is supposed to help with the goose egg swelling.

I just put her down for a nap, and she went down fine. Probably because the stumble made her sleepy, but I am not too worried as she wasn't knocked unconscious, and apparently, according to the doctor, you need not worry about them sleeping if they weren't knocked unconscious.

My husband said that the goose eggs are actually common when you bump your head on something. He asked me, "Have you never knocked your head on something and then got a goose egg as a result?" Well, no, I really don't think I have. He is the accident prone one, and I think Annabelle is following in his footsteps. I think she gets her "high tolerance for pain" from her Mommy though. Otherwise, you would have thought the child would have cried for longer than she did this morning? Right now, if my husband is reading this blog, he is laughing at the "high tolerance for pain" part. That is exactly why I quoted it, just for him! He thinks I toot my own horn for having a "high tolerance for pain." I remind him all of the time that I gave birth to his 7 lbs, 9 oz daughter without ANY meds...almost 24 hours of labor, with 12 hours being hard labor! Hard labor defined (by me) as contractions 5 minutes or less apart.

And, on another side note...my plans for this weekend were to have my husband take her 12 month pictures (at almost 13 months). I am already mad at myself for not getting these done sooner, but every week since her birthday, she's done something to her face, and I didn't want it to show up in the pictures. Of course, those were all minimal blemishes with just a little scratch here and a little scratch there from those sharp finger nails of hers that I don't even bother to cut any more because it is too much of a struggle, and I eventually will just tear them off when they get long and flimsy enough.

And, to top it off, I just learned earlier this week that the photographer that I have been using at Portrait Innovations and loved is no longer working there! Big bummer! Grandmama, Granddaddy and I took Annabelle and her Cousin James back at Annabelle's 6 month birthday for a photo shoot, and we didn't make an appointment with the photographer I like, and the pictures were not impressive at all. So, I've decided to get my husband to try and rent one of those big flashes, and I am going to buy a white cloth, and we are going to do our own photo shoot at home. It is stressful enough taking a baby (now toddler) for a photo shoot. It stresses me out even more having a photographer that I cannot stand or who is not good with her or patient with my indecisiveness, for that matter.

The subject for the pictures is awesome, and she smiles a lot, so how on earth did this guy's pictures show the worst smiles of my daughter when she has a beautiful smile 99% of the time! And, I really am not exaggerating too much, she does have a beautiful smile most of the time.

So, I guess this just goes to show you that you shouldn't procrastinate. Maybe I was procrastinating because I really didn't want to deal with the stress of the photo shoot, and it had nothing to do with the blemishes. It was probably a little bit of both. Oh well!

I have faith that my husband will take magnificent pictures of her for her 12 month photo shoot at 13 months, and we'll still dress her in her birthday dress, and maybe I'll make another cake just for the occasion.

It will be cheaper in the long run to buy our own flash (or even rent it), then pay the prices I've been paying for these photo shoots just to get the CD with all of the pictures on it.