Yesterday after church, after an hour of undressing, dressing, feeding and putting all the kids down for their afternoon naps, I wanted to clean the mess from lunch so I could settle in for some football and a nap. I was flying mostly solo because the wife is still down with the fractured hip.
As I'm cleaning the dishes I hear Gracie (the 4 year old) calling my name from her bed. This is fairly normal, and it's usually just an excuse not to take a nap or go to sleep. Often, she'll call me up to her room and tell me the color of her pajamas or ask me to crack her door - anything to delay going to sleep. Yesterday, I didn't have time for it. I yelled back at her from the kitchen to lay down and take a nap. This exchange happened a couple times over a five minute period. In my defense, my ears are a little clogged from my latest illness, and, as the wife will tell you, I'm half deaf on a normal day. The sink was running, too, so I couldn't hear exactly what Gracie was saying.
She continued to call for me, and I eventually noticed she was saying something other than my name. I figured it was nothing, but thought I should go quell the insurgency.
I finally jogged up the steps, getting ready to scold her for not going to sleep. When I opened her door, she was sitting on the bed with blood all over her little face and on her pillow. The poor little girl was trying to get me to come upstairs because she had a bloody nose!
She had every right to be mad at me for ignoring her, but she wasn't. She just sat there sweetly as I cleaned her up with some wet wipes and changed her pillow case.
I am such a jack ass.
The wife will tell you that, too.
FINALLY, A WARM DAY
We had one of those rare warm January days yesterday. The kids got up from their naps with 45 minutes of sunlight to spare, so AB and I threw some shoes and sock on them, bundled them in their jackets and sent them outside for some much-needed outdoor time. Mostly, me, Addie and Gracie had foot races around the yard. Gracie won every time. Addie laughed her rich little belly laugh from start to finish every time. It was fun. Here are a few pics.
