Sunday 23 August 2009

Knives, Rainbows, and lost wallets.

Friday started out well. Gorgeous day. Beautiful.

So we got up and decided to head for Antrim. Junction One is our unplanned weekend outting of choice, as it has a play ground for Hazel, it's all outdoors (like the mall in Carmel, IN) and it's an outlet, so you get cool stuff cheap.

Well, it was beautiful in Larne. Not so much in Antrim. Once we got there, dark clouds spead in and it dumped buckets for the first 45 minutes we were there. The rain let up, however, and the day turned out a bit breezy but nice. So we continued on our way, having lunch, letting Hazel run, buying necessaities like dress shoes for Brett to wear to work and kitchen knives to replace our old rusty ones. The day flew by and we decided to head home so that Hazel could get a small nap.

Once home, Hazel was in bed, and Brett and I sat down for a little R&R ourselves. Brett opened our new knife set and took them in to wash them so we could use them. HE wasn't gone long when I heard a yell from the kitchen and I went running.

He'd sliced his finger. Badly. Blood everywhere.

We dropped Hazel off at Michelle's and took him BACK to Antrim for the Emergency Room. He got it closed up with some strips and bandaged up with a little finger cot and arm in a sling to keep it elevated (I guess once cleaned out it can bleed really bad if not lifted) for the evening. He hates it, and I didn't like the situation, but he did look cute in his sling. Not that I ever want him in another one. EVER.

Heading back we saw 3 rainbows in the same sky. One to the East and 2 to the South. They were gorgeous. i will definitely miss all the rainbows once we move home. It was incredible.

We picked up Hazel, 2 1/2 hours after dropping her off, and raced home to find my wallet, which I realized on the way to the ER that I couldn't find. It wasn't home. It wasn't in the car. Not in the diaper bag. I called junction One stores, I even drove BACK to juction One, taking me to Antrim for the 3rd time that day. No go. We canceled my cards. I was soooo frustrated.

It's been a rough day.

UPDATE: Wallet was at Junction One. In the one store I didn't check. Go figure. It iwas a God thing that I even THOUGHT to call there....

Monday 17 August 2009

Belfast Maritime Festival 2009

Once every 20 years, very large ships sail the ocean and stop in Belfast for the Belfast Maritime Festival. They docked in Belfast this year on Thursday, August 13th for the first time as a fleet since 1991, and set sail again on Sunday, August 16th. It was beautiful to see the large ships.


We decided to go to the festival on Saturday once we got up and moving. We were off about 11 am. The plan was to drive to a park and ride outside the city and take the bus to the festival. As there's really no other convenient way to get there, we chose the P n R nearest us. AT 11:30, that car park was full. It should hav been a warning to us about what we were to find once we got there. Anyway, we drove around the city to the 2nd nearest P n R. The # of cars there was stagering, and there was already a queue for the buses. The thing I have to say about lines in Europe are that even if they are long, they rarely last, and standing in one can be pleasantly short! We took a double decker to the Queen's Quay and with in seconds of getting off the bus, Hazel took off for the nearest piece of grass and kids....


Once on the site, there was just an amazing amount of people and ships.




We got treats and walked for a a short while before the masses of people got to all of us. So we headed home.
It was a great experience and I'm so glad we were able to go. It's bazaar to think that Hazel will be atleast 20 before the next fleet of ships sail in....

Monday 10 August 2009

Scary Moments

I hope no one ever has to watch their child choke.

As a mom, I've never been so panicked in my whole life.

We were sitting in the living room last night; Brett was playing on his PSP, I was surfing the net, and Hazel was going between the 2 of us, wanting to do what we were. Brett and her were sharing starburst candies and she must have gotten too big of a peice or was eating it and swallowed too quickly or something, but suddenly, she scrambled off the couch over to me, with a very panicked look on her face. She slightly coughed for a second, and I realised she couldn't breathe, so I picked her up and started whacking the highest plart of her back with the heel of my hand. It took what felt like several minutes to get it dislodged, but was actually more like 30-45 seconds. Just long enough to see her lips turning blue. I never wanna see that ever again. Once I saw that she was coughing a little and trying to throw it up, I stuck my finger in her throat (not far) just far enough to trigger a stronger gag for her. It took a few moments of really heavy gagging to get it up, but it finally came out and her color returned. I really can't remember the last time I just wanted to hold onto her for dear life. Lots of crying all around, from Daddy, Me, and Hazel. It nearly broke Brett's heart, too. I thought he'd never put her down.

I implore to everyone to be double-triple-quadruple sure of the size of foods you feed your baby/toddler/child as well as making sure you talk to a doctor about the best way to handle a choking moment should, heaven forbid, any arrise.

For everyone's sake, I hope no one has to ever worry about this. I pray always that I never have to do it again, either.

Thursday 6 August 2009

But it SUPPOSED to be there...

Last Friday I chose to do what many think is just all kinds of masochistic.

I chose to wax all unwanted hair on my body. Well, I suppose not ALL of it went. I left some.

I had my legs, eyebrows, bikini, and underarms waxed. All in one visit.

It actually wasn't that bad. I usually do my bikini and eyebrows, and I used to get my legs done, but tried underarms for the first time. It really was quick and easy and far beats the razor burn that is left behind by alternate means of epilation. my underarms were sore afterwards, but that's to be expected and I wasn't too bothered.

Brett winces at the thought of me plucking ONE hair from his eyebrows. And it's usually the one that I could wind around a curling iron, it's so long. Old men have eyebrows hairs hat long, and he freaks when I pluck ONE.

"But it's SUPPOSED to be there. LEave it alone. It isn't hurting anyone."

I still make him let me pluck it. I think it's the reason he never complains if I have leg hair as long as his....he's afraid I'll make him "groom" his....