Tuesday 22 February 2011

Mum of the Year? Probably Not...

My cousin Emma came to visit us this week with her two children, Millie & Henry, and they stayed overnight. We had a great time with Emma & the kids. The best part was that it took Emma an hour & a half to get to my front door, whereas even 2 months ago it would have been an 8 hour flight.
Millie's hardest decision in life so far: choosing which sweeties to buy with the pound coin from her  Nanny & Grandad

Emma having fun on the carousel thing at the playground.

Emma almost puking on the carousel thing at the playground

Obviously you have to wear all the hats in the house at the same time. Especially when wearing pajamas.

"Yeah, I'm on a swing. No bigs. Yeah, I also kicked off one of my boots. Figure it out, people! It's fashion!"  
But the point of this post is actually about Elizabeth's crib. See, my cousin Ross came to visit us in January,

and when we tried to move Elizabeth's crib out of her room so he could sleep there on our extra bed (hint, hint, to anyone who is considering visiting!!), it wouldn't fit out the doorway. Even with a lot of  maneuvering and pivoting, and the best engineering Matthew could do, the crib was too wide for the door frame. And now, I have to point out that it is funny that my cousin's name is Ross, and everytime I think of that evening moving the crib, I also think of the episode of Friends with the couch and Ross yelling, "PIVOT!"


I love that this came up on Google Image when I searched "friends pivot" :)
This time, we didn't bother pivoting even one time; Matthew took the crib apart and put it back together in our room. So that brings us to this evening, when Emma & her kids have left, and Matthew is out with his new lab group for the evening. I had to decide: leave her crib in our room again tonight, and suffer through her super loud, noisy sleeping (has anyone else noticed how loud babies are when they sleep??), or take it apart and put it back together myself, and take care of Elizabeth at the same time? Um, hello, is this even a choice?  I can totally take apart and put together a crib!!

And guess what - I totally can do the crib thing. No problem! It's the "taking care of Elizabeth at the same time" part that is hard. Which is why my baby has a bump on her forehead about an inch and a half long. Because when I was balancing the bottom part of the crib on my knee and allen-key screwing the side into the headboard of the crib (you might have to read that sentence a couple times to actually visualize what I mean), Elizabeth decided to stand up using the crib as a support. Which meant I couldn't move because then she would fall - but also meant I was semi-trapped when she decided to let go and stand up on her own, and then fall down on her own. And clearly, she chose to land on her head.

Taken about 10 minutes after the 'incident' - can you see the bump? I swear, she was fine after about 2 minutes of crying. And her pupils dilate equally, and she responds to her name, and she follows commands. She  did 'more' in sign language when I gave her cheerios just before this photo. She's fine!

I realize this photo makes her look a little cross-eyed but she really isn't. She really is fine.
So.... does this make me a bad Mum? Or a good furniture-putter-togetherer? It's a bit of a toss-up, really.

4 comments:

Chrissy said...

I say you are both. Not only did you manage to take apart a crib, move it, then re-assemble it. You also taught little E an important lesson. Gravity bits the big one! And who really are we but not a product of gravities lessons.

Trust me I have tested the gravity sucks parenting policy. I left Leah unattended on Katie's bed and she crawled head first right off of it. So no worries. E is fine, Leah is fine. Really you were probably harder on yourself than you needed to be. :)

RL said...

I think it makes you a great Mum! For being adventurous and not over protective, and having the guts to share it all with us!

Joe said...

I vote for both. To put together the crib by yourself is a success, but to doing it while doing a neuro assessment on your daughter, and checking her signing skills is amazing. Kids are tough.
Thank goodness.
Way to go Georgina!

Brooke said...

What are you talking about not mom of the year? I don't know anyone else who can keep so many babies attention at once. E looks so cute sitting that swing.