So I Thought This Was My Biggest Problem

I mean really... I thought this was going to be the challenge for the day. I took these pictures early in the morning last Friday (March 5th) because even I was amazed at Sophie's hair. We are used to crazy hair in the mornings here, but this was spectacular! I was gearing up for detangler, several brushes and determining my distraction method for the 20 minutes I was going to need to get through that rat's nest.

Little did I know that this would be the least of my problems! As soon as I got the kids dressed for the day, teeth brushed and, of course, hair tamed we set out for Sainsbury's. I had the car that day and so I wanted to take full advantage and drive there so I could get a good amound of groceries. It is always best to stay out of the grocery stores over the weekend and it is my personal rule to limit my trips during the week as well, since everyone knows that going shopping with two kids is akin to going to the dentist.

So we were off. I had a plan. I was going to bribe the children with sugar (a lolly from Starbuck's) and get in and out in 45 minutes. I wanted to buy things that were annoying (yet, unfortunately, not impossible, as I know too well) to get home while pushing a stroller such as toilet paper, paper towels, cat litter, cat food, a giant package of diapers. At the entrance to Sainsbury's we ran into a neighbor and a classmate of Abby's: Joe and his mom and brother. (As a sidenote, Abby mentioned to Tim last weekend that Joe was officially her boyfriend at school.) Naturally Joe and Abby wanted to hang out and Sophie was placated by the sweet fruitiness of the sucker slime drooling out of her mouth so I quickly (and calmly) shopped as fast as I could with a sticky 2 year old and two four year olds running somewhat under control through the isles. In no time I was done, found Joe's mom and dropped him off and got in the line to check out. This is where my day changed. I was bagging my groceries, listening to my kids being good, entertaining themselves (but not seeing them) and putting in my PIN for my debit card when suddenly I heard the worst noise I have ever heard: a giant crash and both my girls screaming and crying hysterically. I turned around to see that the metal and full cart had tipped over on its side and had landed on Abby's face. Sophie was also in the cart but was relatively unhurt (later we found some nasty bruises on the top of her thighs) but was completely tramatized. A woman from behind me in the line helped be lift up the cart off of Abby and I think another person helped Abby off the ground. I looked down to see blood pouring from her face. She had the beginnins of a black eye and a gash that went down to the bone. The paramedics were called, paper towels were handed to me to me to press onto Abby's face, Joe's mom took Sophie from the cart and it was all I could do to figure out how to get ahold of Tim (which I did poorly, since I wasn't fully functioning - sorry Tim!). Two sets of paramedics cleared Abby at the store to travel to the hospital by way of car versus ambulance so we decided that would be the least traumatic. After getting sorted out and my brain working again, the girls and I made it out to the car to grab Tim from work and head to the hospital. Another mom/aquaintance that was at Sainsbury's helped me get the postcode for the hospital into the navigation system while I was buckling in the girls in. After the mom went on her way, I realized that the gps had drained our severely shoddy car battery and the car was dead! The stress of the situation overcame me and I finally started crying while I called Tim to get someone to drive over to jump the car. About 30 minutes later we were soon on the way after dropping Sophie and Tim off at the house.

Abby and I went to West Middlesex Hospital in Islesworth Twickenham (West London) and were able to see a pediatric emergency doctor in a fairly short amount of time. Luckily, he agreed that a shot to numb her in the face wouldn't go over very well, so he opted to order glue and steri strips. Abby was a brave girl and only cried when the glue stung her. This is a picture of her while she was waiting to get x-rayed. No broken facial bones and it could have been substantially worse, should she have gotten hit and inch higher. Each day the bruise gets a little more nasty and the cut looks better. Sophie still talks about the trauma and hopefully will forget it someday. Probably only to be undug at some future therapy session, right?

Abby was so excited to go back to school today to see her friends that she missed on Friday (and get a new library book!) but they sent her back home with me because they didn't want to have to worry about her reinjuring herself. Oh, she was sad (I wasn't, is that bad?). I was worried too. Now her next trauma is that we have big plans to go to Disneyland in Paris this weekend and she is disturbed that the princesses will see her like this. I tell her, they'll be just glad she is ok.