Happy new year?

The last 36 hours of my life have been crazy - I hope this isn't indicative of what the new year will bring. If so, I'm skipping 2009.

The New Year actually started out pretty fun, by going bowling with Ben's family. The girls had a blast bowing and eating "delicious" bowling ally food. I continued my streak of games under 100 by scoring a solid 98. I even took bowling in high school (hey - don't laugh. I was living in Ohio) but I still suck - at least I'm really good at keeping score :)





After bowling, we headed over to my parents' house to play games and to ring in the New Year. The girls really wanted to stay awake until midnight, and I agreed to let them. Bryn made it until about 10 and G fell asleep on the floor some time around 11pm. That is the latest either one has ever stayed up, and I was amazed they stayed up that long.

The New Year came and went without excitement, and I decided to go to bed about 1pm. We were staying at my parents' house, and I went into bed with Bryn. No sooner had I laid down, when I heard something in the garbage cans outside the window. I looked out, and didn't see anything. I decided it was nothing and laid back down. Again I heard sounds, only this time it sounded like something sliding through the snow outside. I peeped outside, but still couldn't see anything. I tried going back to bed, and heard something for a 3rd time - this time, it actually sounded like a man calling for help. Finally, I went downstairs to see what was going on. My hubby and brother were up playing an on-line game, and convinced me I could just hear the game. Not seeing anything outside, I laid down and tried to finally sleep.

I actually did doze off, but about 30 minutes later, the door bell rang. By this time, it was about 2:30 AM. The boys were still playing games, and jumped up to get the door. Standing there, was an extremely intoxicated man with only one shoe on. He was covered in snow, as if he'd been rolling around in a snow bank, and he appeared to have been recently beat up. He asked the boys if they could explain to his friend where he was, because he had no idea and wanted them to come get him.

He went outside to wait for his friends. He was obviously freezing, and starting to sober up. We all went out, and too him a coat to wear while he waited for his friends. As we were waiting, a group of rowdy drunks came out of the house across the street, and apparently that is where he had been partying. But instead of being happy to see his friends, he became agitated. The group started shouting at each other as this guy went over to them. Then, the started pushing each other around again. But, he did get into their car and they drove off, swerving down the road.

I was glad I didn't have to go anywhere.

By now, it was 3am, and I was tired. I went back to bed for the 5th time that night. It took me a few minutes to fall asleep. Just as I started dozing, the friends of the drunk guy showed up for him. UGH!

That was actually the last disturbance, but the girls woke up at 6:51. I was one tired mommy. Regardless, we decided to take the kids sledding. We had been promising, and they were so excited. So, we headed to a hill at a near-by elementary school - a smaller hill with only one tree at the bottom. Perfect for little kids! And they totally had a blast.




After only a few minutes, the girls decided that they were big enough to go by themselves. At first I was a little skeptical about letting them go alone, but they had so much fun. It was relatively safe. At the bottom of the hill, the only obstacles were one tree and a volleyball net, so we did have to be a little careful. But the hill was straight, so I felt confident that we would send the kids down safely. They were loving it.

One time though, I sent Bryn down, and the tube started going crooked. I had put her safely in the center, but for some reason the tube went sideways. I watched as she was heading straight for the tree at the bottom. It was horrible - I stood there frozen and watched her go straight for the tree. She had flipped around, so she was going backwards and had no idea what was coming. She had a big grin on her face as she hit the tree.

It was sickening. She was going fast, and the tube hit the tree first and then the back of her head smacked into the tree. Her body flew up into the air and she flopped like a doll into the snow, face first. I ran there quickly, and scooped her up. Her face was bloody and the force of the impact had knocked the boots right off her feet. I think that was the absolute worst moment of my life. She was sobbing and crying "My head! My head!" She wouldn't open her eyes, and told me that she couldn't see.

I held her, trying to comfort her. I cleaned off her mouth wound with snow, and assessed that it wasn't too bad. Her face was also a little scratched up, and didn't seem to bad. But I was worried about her head. She was conscious and communicating with me and there was no blood coming from her nose or ears, but she wouldn't open her eyes, move her body, and she was so floppy. She needed to be checked out by the ER.

Luckily, the hospital was a short 5 minute drive away - but it still seemed like forever. Ben dropped us off, and luckily I got right in. She continued to scream the entire time we were there, which is unlike her. She gets over things very quickly, and that made me more worried about her poor, sweet head. I got right back to a room, but it took the doctor an hour to see her. I sat there worrying that she was bleeding onto her brain, and every minute I had to wait, I was sure she was suffering more. It was awful, especially since she screamed for the entire hour.

The doctor finally came to see her, and determined that she didnt' have a brain injury. So, he sent us home. We think she did have a mild concussion, but thankfully there is no lasting damage. She still has a headache today, and her neck is really sore. But she's playing happily with her sister and asking if I'll take her sledding again today.

I think we'll wait a few days for that though. I need time to get over it, even if she's feeling better. Ahh. I hope we got all of our excitement out of the way, so we can just enjoy the rest of the year.