Health Insurance costs a fortune here, but when you need it, it's wonderful. He had 3 stitches and we were in and out in 1 1/4 hours and that included the 20 minutes it took for the anesthetic to work. If that was England we would have been there for hours!
Unfortunately he then fell the next day and banged his head on the corner of the chair leg and got a huge bruise on his forehead too. So by the time he had his stitches out at his 2 year old check up, he looked like a battered child. Then last night he and Kirsten were bouncing on a mattress we had on the floor in her room and he banged his head on her nightstand and cut his head again. I think it could have done with a stitch, but it's in his hair line, Adam was out for the night, I had all four kids and it was bed time so I couldn't face taking everyone to the ER. Also we have a large co-pay on ER visits, so I stuck a steri strip on it and a band aid and it seems OK today. I never thought I'd be so relaxed about my child cutting himself open, but he's never bothered by it for more than a few minutes, he's just so brave.
Sometimes Nicolas will be cute and snuggle in bed for a few minutes in the morning, but it's rare, so we make the most of it. Normally when Nicolas wakes up, Adam has been at work for ages, so it's a treat for him to see Daddy in the morning.
Last weekend my friend Angie came to stay from Canada. We haven't seen each other since my wedding, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We met in New Zealand and I can't believe we have been friends now for nearly 10 years!
We went up Stone Mountain, which is the largest outcrop of granite in the world. I've not been there for ages and it was fun, but Angie left freezing temperatures in Nova Scotia only to experience not quite so freezing temps here!
Tori used to be Nicolas' favorite person, but now Angie is joint favorite. When he goes to bed he will usually call for Mommy and Daddy, and then after Tori had looked after him for the day he would call out tentatively for Tori. Now he'll call for Angie as well, just in case she or Tori will come and unlock his bedroom door and let him out!
There is a carving of some of the presidents on the side of the mountain which is pretty impressive.
Leo was in heaven the whole time Angie was here. She has a dog Buddy,and I think Leo sensed that she was a pushover and that he could take advantage of her. He spent the weekend overstepping all his boundaries just to be near Angie. As you can see in the background, Nicolas is taking his trousers down to show Angie his cute little legs!
Angie and I refocussed each other and both felt a lot more motivated to fix the things in our lives that were frustrating us. 
She left on Monday afternoon, and she treated us to a visit to the aquarium in the morning. Nicolas loved it and then we went to the CNN center and around Centenial Park, which is where the 1986 olympic opening and closing ceremony was held.
Adison loved it too and it's amazing the difference in how interested she is in things in just the month since we were at the aquarium last.
Angie got some practice in looking after Nicolas and making sure he didn't run away.
You can see the windows that still have to be replaced in the circular Westin Hotel after the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta.
So after Angie left I had a nice relaxing week. I took a meal to a Mom at church who has just had a baby, made tea at church and then went to my MOPS meeting. I was so proud of myself for saying NO when they asked if I would consider running the group next year. It felt good to be asked and a large part of me wanted to say yes, but our current leader would be a very hard act to follow and I promised myself I wouldn't say yes to anything else.
Sometimes Nicolas will be cute and snuggle in bed for a few minutes in the morning, but it's rare, so we make the most of it. Normally when Nicolas wakes up, Adam has been at work for ages, so it's a treat for him to see Daddy in the morning.Last weekend my friend Angie came to stay from Canada. We haven't seen each other since my wedding, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We met in New Zealand and I can't believe we have been friends now for nearly 10 years!
We went up Stone Mountain, which is the largest outcrop of granite in the world. I've not been there for ages and it was fun, but Angie left freezing temperatures in Nova Scotia only to experience not quite so freezing temps here!
Tori used to be Nicolas' favorite person, but now Angie is joint favorite. When he goes to bed he will usually call for Mommy and Daddy, and then after Tori had looked after him for the day he would call out tentatively for Tori. Now he'll call for Angie as well, just in case she or Tori will come and unlock his bedroom door and let him out!
There is a carving of some of the presidents on the side of the mountain which is pretty impressive.
Leo was in heaven the whole time Angie was here. She has a dog Buddy,and I think Leo sensed that she was a pushover and that he could take advantage of her. He spent the weekend overstepping all his boundaries just to be near Angie. As you can see in the background, Nicolas is taking his trousers down to show Angie his cute little legs!
Angie and I refocussed each other and both felt a lot more motivated to fix the things in our lives that were frustrating us. 
She left on Monday afternoon, and she treated us to a visit to the aquarium in the morning. Nicolas loved it and then we went to the CNN center and around Centenial Park, which is where the 1986 olympic opening and closing ceremony was held.
Adison loved it too and it's amazing the difference in how interested she is in things in just the month since we were at the aquarium last.
Angie got some practice in looking after Nicolas and making sure he didn't run away.
You can see the windows that still have to be replaced in the circular Westin Hotel after the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta.
So after Angie left I had a nice relaxing week. I took a meal to a Mom at church who has just had a baby, made tea at church and then went to my MOPS meeting. I was so proud of myself for saying NO when they asked if I would consider running the group next year. It felt good to be asked and a large part of me wanted to say yes, but our current leader would be a very hard act to follow and I promised myself I wouldn't say yes to anything else. We got our new wills signed on Wednesday and by the time I got there my truck was smoking and had steam coming out of the engine. The radiator had blown, so Adam called the guy at the garage (the same one who ran the truck into the wall after he fixed the wheel bearings), and he said he would fix it for free because of all the hassle we had been through to get it repaired. We need a tune up, but other than that it should be OK for a while, but who knows what unexpected thing will go wrong next.
I don't think I'll like 2009, it's been very sad, expensive and full of lots of injuries for Nicolas. I've just had to spend $645 to have my green card renewed, so who knows what could get messed up there!!!
We have the kids for the weekend and Ike and Lilli are having a sleep over, so once again our house is full of children. I'm so used to having a house full of people that I've pretty much got used to it and I really enjoy it, but Adam and I have promised that next weekend we are doing NOTHING!! It will be our first weekend with just Nicolas and Adison since the middle of November. I can't wait.
Alison - Shame on you!!
ReplyDeleteThe NHS has made many dramatic and substantial improvements in its service. How long have you been away from the UK? Do not make assumptions about things you cannot really comment on fully!
The grass may not always appear greener on the other side of the fence.
oh dear someone is upset with you i see in the comment above mine. did they not see all the cute photos of the kids?? that what we like comments about :)
ReplyDeleteanyhoo...poor nicolas and poor you! that must have been so scary and traumatic for you. he is a tough and brave little guy. so adorable too!!