Ice Cubes and the ER

Friday, Jacob decided he wanted an icecube–or maybe he was trying to be helpful as we got dinner ready. I had gone into Paul’s office to talk with him for a moment when I heard him start crying. A quick glimpse out the door told me something was wrong as I barely spotted him with blood on his face as he tore off to the bathroom.

Paul and I were hot on his trail, knowing that he would look in the mirror and panic. We didn’t catch him fast enough though. By the time we got to the bathroom he was wailing and terrified.

After a quick examination (and fast call to big sister for advice) we decided that he was going to have to stitches. The gash was a big one – he had fallen and bitten his lip – VERY badly. So I gave him some ice in a little towel, and whisked him off to the ER.

The ER visit was fast as most ER visits go – we were out after only a little over 2 hours. There was no wait in the lobby, though the nurse checking us in kept looking at us skeptically as though I was an unsavory character who didn’t look properly after her pre-schooler (never mind the fact that Jacob is a super active wiggly boy). Of course maybe it didn’t help that I wasn’t perfectly manicured and dressed to the nines. 🙂

Anyway, we were, of course, grilled over Jacob’s heart history. This was his first ER visit since the day we raced in and discovered he had a heart defect. I now understand a little more when friends mention that ERs panic over heart patients, etc. It was obvious that he needed stitches. The doc worried about knocking him out because of risks and side effects with no cardioligist, etc. to grab if something went horribly wrong.

So, it was decided that they would do a local numbing and then, since it was only two stitches, he’d just stitch it up really quick. Looking back I probably could have insisted – I mean he’s been knocked out a bunch without any side-effects – but it’s hard to think clearly in ERs – *sigh* So, I’m afraid I put that poor boy through more trauma than was neccessary for just 2 stitches, but then I also understand the Doctor’s desire for caution…

Jacob was a champion though and did really well – considering. And he was awarded with a nice big milkshake on the way home.

Editor in Training

Once a week a few friends meet at my home for writer’s group. We each will often share a chapter from our work to be critiqued – giving a copy to each person for them to writes their edits on. We meet before the girls come home from school, but are often finishing up when they burst into the door. They always stand nearby, intrigued as we swap comments.

Once I am done with my edits I pass the extra marked copies off to my girls so they can use the back of the paper for artwork. Today I found an old chapter from Belinda floating around the house. It was heavily marked with words all through it circled.

Curious, I picked up the small batch of stapled papers. They were crinkled and a little worse for wear, but my face creased in a smile as I observed them. I wasn’t sure who had been so industriously at work on my manuscript, but it had the hint of Elizabeth over it.

On the backs of the pages were cute pictures scattered about with professions of loving the color pink (hence my determination that it was Elizabeth) and over the front of papers any word that was used more than once was circled – with a list to the side as to what the words were.

What heightened my amusement was the fact that the listed words were words such as: into, a, the, to , and, Belinda, she, her, of, I. On some pages she had even detailed the number of times each word was used.

On one page she employed her creative powers and exed out about half of my paragraphs – and on other pages the repeated words were highlighted rather than circled.

I had to laugh – she had put a great deal of work into her little editing process, and I couldn’t help but wonder… What is she going to be when she grows up?

Alive and Posting

Back to posting – I have missed it actually – and I have to apologize for horribly neglecting my friends and their blogs. I was catching up today and it has been fun to see what everyone has been up to while I have had my head buried in writing.

So, I figured today would make a good random post day –

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We are still potty training Jacob – why are boys SO much harder than girls? *sigh*

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James is a hoot and a half – he is walking everywhere now on those adorable shaky one-year-old legs. He also likes to sing! It is the cutest thing ever. Because of space restrictions in the house he is still in a crib in our bedroom. We are awakened in the morning by “Hi”s, waves, and cute soft little singing. We love it!

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Dorothy sang in a school talent show – in front of a ton of people – all by herself and she was even on pitch, and you could understand what she was singing! Go Dorothy – not to mention the courage that had to take. She is also playing the piano non-stop. 🙂

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Elizabeth played the piano in the same talent show and did really well – she has tons of courage too.

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The girls have a new temporary principal at their school – the coolest thing is that she was my 7th and 8h grade teacher for social studies and language arts. She was the teacher that encouraged me in writing. 🙂

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Emily was beaned in the head by a rather large toy – right in the forehead. Thankfully I could just butterfly it and didn’t have to take her in to have it stitched. Man, head wounds bleed a TON.

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Paul spent a week in Mexico in the Yucatan in January and had a marvelous time while I stayed home and had fun with the kids – we really did have fun too. (I’m not saying it wasn’t tough sometimes – because it really was – and I might have been just a little bit jealous)

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Paul and I got to escape for a weekend (just a couple weekends ago) BY OURSELVES!!! Well, with friends, but without kids. It was SO much fun, and we got to ride a carousel too – coolest thing ever.

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I tweaked my Belinda book some more, and I think I am ready to send out another wave of queries. It’s kind of fun. And, I have the opportunity to attend a writer’s conference in Utah in April – very excited about that. My goal is to have The Forbidden Fairytale cleaned up and submission ready by then.

Done!

Well, done with the rough draft any way. 🙂 What an awesome book it was to write too! I had so much fun. So now I am tucking it away for a little while. Catching up on some other projects, and will hopefully resurrect my blogging. 🙂

Final word count: 62,066

It is called “The Forbidden Fairytale” And some time soon I might start pestering you to do proofing for me 😀

Nearing completion…

What happens when you are writing a really addictive story that you just can’t seem to put down? You write every spare minute you have, when the kids are sleeping, or the hubby lets you run off for an evening to write.

My manuscript seems to be exploding into form. I have hit 42, 721 words and at the beginning of the end. Woot! I am so excited about this book.