Puffy Lip

So, I work what we call a compressed work schedule and am lucky enough to have every-other Friday off of work.  Because of my brother and sister-in-law's work schedule (and perhaps the close proximity of our homes) I watch Mia, Kennedy, and Riley in the afternoons on those very Fridays.

I made the mistake of taking the three rascals to Baskin Robbins a few Fridays ago.  They had been behaving very well, so I thought they deserved a little reward.  It didn't seem like a mistake at the time, but as soon as I walked in the house this Friday - Kennedy was all about another Baskin Robbins trip.

I obliged because... Well, I love ice cream.

We were a troupe of happy people, although Mia elected not to have her photo taken.

4 years old.  Head tilt down pat.

    

Blue eyes.  Curly hair.  "Warwen."  Love this boy.

After ice cream they insisted on being taken to our house so they could see their second favorite person (second to me, of course!) - Uncle Ryan!  We got to our house and they greeted Uncle (or Aunt as Riley calls him) Ryan with big hugs and smiles and they headed straight for the dogs.

Brock and Sonny love everyone, so I never worry about them.  The only thing I do worry about is Brock being overly-friendly and knocking the kids down or licking them to death.  Brock immediately ran towards Riley with his tongue hanging out and the look on that little boy's face was pure terror.  I scooped him up and encouraged him to focus on the more-his-size, little Sonny.

I ended up just leaving poor Brock in his cage.  The poor dog is just too intense sometimes and doesn't realize how big he is.

Now is a good time to totally switch gears and say that we had to take our laundry room door off in order to fit our new washer and dryer.  There's plenty of room for me to do my laundry-goddess duties, but not enough room to have a door.  After Ryan took the door off its hinges, he laid it on top of Brock's cage - only placing it there for the time being.

Well, come Friday.  The door was still there.

So, Sonny was chasing Riley.  Kennedy was chasing Sonny.  I was  seconds away from saying, "OK, guys.  Enough running and chasing."

It was then that Kennedy ran smack (and I mean, smack) into the laundry room door.  It wiped her clean on her feet and she grabbed her little mouth.  My heart instantly sank and broke and I'm yelling inside, "Not on my watch!"

She was crying, or trying to cry, but no sound was coming out. I scooped up Kenny and (trying so hard to keep my composure in hopes to not freak her out more) squeezed her tight.  I made a pit stop to grab some ice cubes and a washcloth, then we went into the bathroom.

The first thing I wanted to check was to make sure all of her little teeth were still attached.  Hallelujah, they were!  She saw some blood on her little hand and started crying even more, but I wiped it off with lightening speed and assured her that she was going to be fine.  She had only cut her lip.

Riley and Aunt/Uncle Ryan came into the bathroom for some comedic relief and we were on our way to settling down.  Well, she was.  Within minutes she was fine, but I was far from fine.

I am a great Auntie.  I am responsible, always try to do fun things with them (hello, park trips and ice cream!), play with them, don't let them run-a-muck (besides this momentary lapse) and discipline them when necessary.  And now, I've let my sweet niece get a cut and puffy lip.

We went back home to wait for Haley, my sister-in-law, and I couldn't wait to tell her what happened.  I was so afraid of what she (not to mention my brother!) was going to say.

In the mean time, Kennedy, Riley, and I went and rode bikes outside.  I asked Kennedy if I could take a picture of her little puffy lip, and of course she agreed.

Pointing to the puffy lip.

Her "sad face."

Do not let this Hollywood-actress-in-the-making fool you.  Immediately after I took this picture, she wanted to see it and proclaimed (with a little too much pride), "That's my sad face!!" and went on riding her little tricycle... All smiles and yelling at her little brother.

 Haley came home and I told her what happened, and told her how terribly awful I felt.  She laughed at me and told me how Kennedy fell out of a hammock last weekend and split her lip open then, too - making this look like nothing.  I must say that made this Auntie feel a little better, but only a little.

While I was leaving, Kennedy assured me that she still loves me.  Puffy lip and all.

 I'd say we need to do a little child-proofing of our house before their next visit.

Take Luck,

LP