SALEM, SCHOOL, SPLITS, STITCHES, & SILVER LININGS

Many areas of Salem are flooding this week because of heavy rainfall, so Tim's school decided to cancel a training session that was supposed to happen last night. Of course, my ringer was off and I didn't know Tim had called to give me that update. About 4:20, which was five minutes after the training was supposed to start, I was surprised to see him pull into the driveway. We'd had two very long days and I hadn't slept enough, so I was happy to find out that he would be home for the evening and I wouldn't be single parenting as psycho mom.

Silas was entertaining himself, Devon and Naomi were happily goofing off together, and Tim was snuggling a screaming Tyler. About two minutes before I was going to feed Tyler and put dinner on the table, Devon tripped.

And landed on his face.

And put two teeth through his lip.

All the way through.

It was now ten minutes after Tim came home and we had rice done cooking, a pot of chili ready to take off the burner, a seven year old with blood pouring out of his face, a nine year old who wanted to know what's going on and how he should help, a four year old was weepy because her brother was hurt, and a six week old baby who was still screaming his head off. Loudly.

Chaos.

We got Devon to the sink with ice, a rag, and a bowl to spit in, took all food off its respective sources of heat, gave Naomi a hug, had Silas get some Tylenol for Devon, and nursed Tyler.

Calm.

The first time I looked at Devon's mouth I could tell that teeth had penetrated his lip, but things were still so bloody that it was hard to tell how bad it was. I know that mouth injuries are often left alone because they heal quickly on their own, but I wasn't sure how bad it had to be to get stitched. We were debating whether or not he needed to be taken in, so I hopped on Facebook to ask how bad a cut had to be for stitches to be required. A few minutes later Tim told me he thought Devon needed stitches. One side was punctured, but the other side had a pretty decent gash in it. I went back to look and realized my Facebook question was pointless. The bleeding had stopped and it was clear that he definitely needed to get things stitched up.

Tim loaded up the boys - Devon for medical care and Silas because he wanted to come along - and headed off to immediate care. I stayed home with Naomi and a crabby Tyler. Naomi and I ate dinner, then watched a movie while I held a sleeping baby. After two very long days of parenting, it was actually nice to sit in a dark, quiet house and relax. It's not exactly how I'd have gone about getting that mellow time, but we've got to play the hand we're dealt.

Devon ended up getting three stitches in his lip. He's the only one of our kids to require stitches and it's the second time he's had them, both times on his face.

Silas got dropped off at home to eat dinner, which was now two hours late, while Tim and Devon went off to pick up antibiotics. And a milkshake, per the doctor's orders. Devon had to be on a liquid diet last night and the doctor thought he may as well make the best of it. By the time they got home it was time for him to get ready for bed and for Tim to eat a very delayed dinner.

Quite the grand finale to two lousy days, huh?

I was exhausted, getting quite irritable and weepy, but Tim had news when he came home. The district had called while he was out and school was cancelled for today because of the flooding.

Cloud? Devon tore up his lip. Silver lining? The two teeth in question, which are permanent teeth, didn't get knocked out.

Cloud? An extra day will be tagged on the school year in June to make up for today's cancelled one. Silver lining? Tim was home today while we all regrouped and having two adults home meant extra things got crossed off the "to do" list.

Cloud? A town is flooding. Silver lining? Tim was home last night, which meant I got parenting support. It also ended up meaning that I didn't have to haul a screaming baby, a bleeding kid, and two other kids off to immediate care right at dinner time by myself.

Never a dull moment around here! Actually, there are lots of dull moments, but stuff like this keep life interesting.

Of course, a post like this would be incomplete without pictures, so without further ado ....


Split ....



and stitched.