Well, Halloween didn't exactly go the way I envisioned. To say it was an interesting and eventful Halloween is an understatement. Kayla ended up with a non-food-related ER visit. The day started out great with the very successful Halloween party and parade at Kayla’s school. The girls then relaxed in the early afternoon while we waited for my girlfriend Filva, her husband Chris and their sons, Logan & Nick to get here. Shortly after they arrived, Kayla was excited and spinning around in the playroom when she fell and landed on her face and her one top tooth went through her bottom lip. The whole thing was kind of a blur. I knew right away she cut her lip and I swooped her up and ran into the kitchen to get a paper towel. It was then I saw it went all the way through (*shudder*). I just looked at Filva and said, I have to go to the ER – she was like Yeah! It then occurred to me, hey, I have another child. They offered to watch Alysa and then I was trying to figure out how to drive her there and keep pressure on her mouth. Filva offered to go with me if I was OK with Chris watching Alysa. I was immediately like OK and I grabbed towels, my wallet and her epi pens and ran out the door with Filva. Now, on a good day, I can’t get Alysa’s car seat out of the van (those tether straps are mommy-proof), so I knew it wouldn’t happen then. Filva offered to drive and I sat on the floor of the van and held the towel to Kayla’s mouth and tried to keep her calm. It wasn’t until later that I realized I’d left Alysa with a man, that to her, was a stranger (it was the first time we had met each other’s kids). I’m sure Alysa won’t be nominating me for Mother of the Year anytime soon. Thankfully the ER was pretty empty and we got right back (after registration, etc). The doctor checked her teeth (they are fine) and her wound. She told us that she did not need stitches, which totally surprised me. They don’t stitch inside the mouth because there is an increased chance of infection and she said the kids just chew the stitches out before the numbness wears off (NICE!). The outside of her lip was actually smaller and very clean. So they just cleaned her lip really well, gave her some Neosporin on the outside with a pretty band aid and she was good to go (well as good as she could be considering). Kayla was a trooper and never flinched when they cleaned her lip. Of course, Filva had found her a cartoon to watch on TV, so the doctor could barely even get her to acknowledge her let alone answer her questions. Sometimes it's good to have a couch potato-wannabe.

Last night, she tried to eat some eggs for dinner, but it hurt too bad. She tried yogurt, but that hurt and finally she fought through the pain to have an ice pop. She had fun trick-or-treating although it hurt her to smile. After trick-or-treating, she would not take my “we’ll save your candy for when your lip is better” speech. She had waited for candy for weeks and she was not about to let a gaping hole in her lip get in her way. I stuck to no skittles and starburst, but the Dots were soft enough that if she ate teeny tiny bites, she was OK. And she also was able to take some scrapings/teeny bites of chocolate. She also had ice cream before bed. Did I mention we did not brush her teeth after all that candy? She slept OK and even sucked her thumb (see how addicted she is?). Today, she ate some soggy cereal and some zucchini bread and pumpkin bread muffins and eggs for lunch. So she’s definitely doing better, but I’ll keep her to soft foods in small bites. They put her on an antibiotic for 5 days to make sure it does not get infected. Not thrilling to me, but at least it’s only a 5 day course of it. She's also enjoying some extra tv and computer time. I don't have the heart to limit her much today.

Are you wondering how Alysa did with Chris? After we left, she said she wanted to go with Kayla. He told her she couldn’t and she said, “OK, let’s play a game.” That was it. She talked nonstop to him and played with him and Logan & Nick. J, of course made it back home in record time (hopefully without getting a ticket on the way).

At least Filva and I still got to go out to dinner last night after the kids were in bed. I sure needed to get away after the day we had! We had a really nice visit with them and I was glad they stuck around until almost noon today, so we had more time together!

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Photos from Trick-or-Treating

I got this sign from Allergy Free Halloween and had some extra Boom Choco Bars on hand.





*No one asked for them, but we were out for quite a while and we don't get that many treaters on the cul de sac. But I'm glad I had them just in case. And they certainly won't go to waste in this house!

The girls


The 4 Kids


*Logan, Kayla, Alysa & Nick

The more full her pumpkin got, the more she kept droping her candy...


I hope everyone had a fun, safe and less ventful Halloween!