John Michael's 2nd Birthday

Dear Abigail,

I had to wait a week to post this event because I had to include the outcome of events that occurred at said event. Making sense?? Didn't think so. Lots of things don't make sense to me, but let me try to help you out on this one and then maybe one day you can explain yourself to me?? Deal???? :)

So Thursday, Mimi and Kate and I picked you up from school and headed to Mimi's house for the weekend. Thursday night, Aunt G and Uncle Bubba and the fam popped in to meet your little sister and you were super pumped to play with Em and John Michael. On Friday, we went down to Mammaws to visit with her and don't worry, we immediately locked Skipper in the back of the house. Your fear of dogs has not changed over the last week :) Mammaw can't seem to understand this, but nonetheless, was kind enough to abide by your rules (i.e. No dogs within eye sight!).

After a good visit with Mammaw, we headed to Papa Robs for dinner and a visit with Grandaddy, your great-grandaddy. You and Papa Rob played a little golf and fed the horses and got a little bit of time in there to play with Kate!

And then we had a yummy dinner, with the exception of dessert, or at least in your opinion. See Gramma is a health nut and while her dinners are delicious, they are typically healthy - a good thing, right? And she did the same with dessert, BUT, she made the mistake of telling you we had ice cream for dessert. So of course, you were SUPER excited about having ice cream. Well... it wasn't exactly ice cream, more like mashed bananas. To me (and everyone else) it was VERY good, like a banana split, but to you, it wasn't ice cream!!! You took one bite and said "Excuse me, may I get down please?"! HA!! Don't worry, I ate yours - it was healthy right, so 2 desserts was okay :)

After a little bit more play time, we headed back to Mimi's and got a good night sleep. Thank goodness because the next day was, well, stressful to say the least! It was John Michael's 2nd birthday party, and while you'd think the getting 2 kids together and yourself (and Mimi!) ready would be the stressful part, that actually went quite smoothly. But, the second, and I mean second we got to the birthday party, you ran off to join all the other kiddos. By the time I was able to get Kate out of her car seat, I looked down to see you crying, screaming rather, and knew something was wrong. With all the other kids, I don't think anyone was paying too much attention to you crying, and Mammaw thought it was because of a dog, but I knew something bad had gone down, and I was not wrong. Gramma finally realized that you were hurt and ran you up to me and that's when I saw the blood - everywhere. You had somehow scraped your finger, pulling the skin off the side of it. Thankfully Aunt G is a nurse, so I thought we'd be okay, but you my lovely darling sweet precious daughter would NOT let anyone see it and instead just screamed and screamed and screamed. We had to hold you down to pry your finger open to see what we were even dealing with and then when we tried to put a band-aid on you screamed even louder (which we didn't know could happen!!). Aunt G got a wash rag for you to put around it and let me just tell you, that rag STAYED wrapped around your finger all. day. long.

I know it had to hurt, no question, but man alive you cried and cried forever. I'd think you were calm down, sitting in my lap, then someone would come in and remind you that you had a hurt finger and the tears would flow again. And if ANYONE asked to see it, whoa, did you let out scream!!! Daddy and I switched back and forth holding you for a solid hour and half and you did NOT want to go outside or do anything but sit in our lap. Daddy even got a plate and was hand feeding you, because you couldn't use your other hand because it was holding the rag on the hurt hand, and also, somehow your feet were un-useable. We're not sure how that happened but you could not do ANYTHING yourself. Eventually, Daddy convinced you to go outside, and little by little you made your way to the party and having a little bit of fun, all while holding that rag on that finger though, and not doing anything for yourself. Mimi had to hand feed you the cake and ice cream, and to drink you had to have someone put the cup to your lips. Seriously - drama queen much???! I won't say who you get that from but her name starts and ends with a "me"... Eventually, you did ride the hay ride (holding the rag) and picked a pumpkin from the 'patch' but Mimi had to decorate it for you adn you refused to get your picture with all the other kiddos so Daddy had to fill in for you. By the end of the party, we were all exhausted and the second you got in the car you fell asleep. AND, some how, who knows how, your rag disappeared and miraculously a band-aid (and medicine) appeared on your finger??!!! Crazy, isn't it. I thought - THOUGHT - this might make all your worries (and helplessness) go away, and apparently it did for a second, but Mimi took you to Clara Lee's and apparently it was back BUT Aunt Ash-ash somehow convinced you she had Magic Band-aids and you let her put one on (I bet she bribed you with cookies!!!) - but you still held onto that finger as if it were going to fall off. You spent the night with CL and the next day, same thing - wouldn't let go of that finger. We headed back home and I was super curious how this was going to pan out at school. Well, by Thursday, you had not opened your fist up and that finger did not have a band-aid on it nor was it going to get one! You would not wash that hand, only the top and if we even tempted to discuss it with you, you would cry and run and hide. AHHHHHHHH. Again, some how a band-aid appeared on it in the middle of the night, but that didn't stop you from not using that hand. Even at gymnastics you did not do the rings. You told your coach you couldn't open your hand because it had a boo boo on it. She (your coach) even said that you climbed the rope wall with just one hand!! UGH!!! When was this going to end???? Daddy tried to trick you into opening it by playing simon says but you are smarter than we give you credit (or more stubborn than we give you credit!) because that hand did not open!!!! On Saturday, we went to check the mail, and low and behold you fell and hurt the other hand!!! Now both hand were gimped out and I thought I was going to lose my mind.

But.. FINALLY Sunday morning came and you woke up saying "Look Mom, my hands are all better!!!". I have NO idea what made them better, there were no secret band-aid missions that night, no medicine put on it, no bribing, but I was VERY thankful your hands indeed were working. What's crazy is, you became so used to closing that one hand and not using it that all day on Sunday I had to remind you that your hand was better and worked now!!! You are such a goofy little girl, with such crazy quirks - but man alive, I love you for it!!!!! It was a long week with you and your hand, but it all turned out okay in the end! Love you little girl!!

PS - Aunt Ash-ash sent some pictures she took of JM's party, more importantly, of you and your finger fiasco, just so we have documentation of what may be considered the worst day of your life so far :)

You got a little happier after the hayride and when you picked your pumpkin out from the patch, but I learned that you actually didn't pick the pumpkin out... Instead your dear, sweet cousin Clara Lee jumped off the trailer and ran and picked a pumpkin for you, before she picked one for herself - because you of course couldn't move...

here's where Daddy had to step in for you because for some reason having a gimp hand means you can't pose for pictures...

Still love you though!!!!