The Trip Haven barely Survived

Whew! We just returned from a trip to Keystone, Colorado. What a beautiful place! I'd never been and Chris had a conference there so he suggested I tag along. Colorado has to be one of my favorite places to visit so I would never so no to a paid hotel room.

Unfortunately, my little girl had a rough time. Or rather, her body had a rough time. The 2nd day we were there she was running and fell. And bumped her noggin on a metal chair. Here's the goose-egg to prove it:

Then a few hours later she took a tumble down the stairs at the condo we were staying in. It was a case where I thought Chris was watching her and he thought I was. Fortunately, he caught her mid-loop and she wasn't harmed, only scared (which may not be such a bad thing). Since we don't have stairs at our house they were a big enticement--hopefully not so much anymore.

Her incidences don't end there, however. She and I took a trip to Breckenridge, just over a pass, and she decided to exercise her rights to have a peaceful sit-in. On the sidewalk. Where tons and tons of tourists and bikers travel. I pulled her up by her arm (which I will never do again), she turned, and I felt a pop. Fortunately, I wasn't actually pulling her up out of frustration because she was kind of cute sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk (and people were smiling at her), but I had to keep her from being a speed-bump.

She gave me a strange look and then started bawling. She bawled longer than she had bawled when she bumped her head. That got me a little worried. She screamed when I put her in her car seat (but that's nothing new--she always does that). I was pretty scared when she didn't stop.

Unfortunately, she does not have the ability to communicate all that well. But, she did take a break from screaming to eat some chocolate covered gummy bears (I know, they are disgusting, but she digs them). I thought she may be OK and was perhaps just tired. However, she kept screaming off and on through out the WHOLE 30 minute ride back to the condo. And, of course, of course, I was behind a gravel truck (sloooowww) the whole way back. Argh! I was trying really, really hard not to take my nervousness/frustration/panic out on that driver. Really Hard. God doesn't hear what you say in your head when your baby may be injured, does He? I thought not.

Anyway, we made it back--I was a bit frazzled because Haven has never cried so long. Texted Chris and told him to leave his meeting ASAP. I did check to see if her shoulder was dislocated. That should be pretty obvious. But, it looked normal. My mother-in-law suggested a broken collar bone, which I suppose is a rather common injury among toddlers. That made me feel awful. We doped Haven up on Tylenol and my husband-who-thinks-he's-a-doctor ascertained a strained or pulled shoulder. I'm kidding. He actually has quite a bit of medical background with his degree. He's a Half-Doctor.

I spoiled her rotten for the rest of the evening and planned for a very LONG ride back home. Maybe it was the praying her grandmother and I did--but lo and behold, Haven woke up this morning acting like nothing happened. She crawled and ran and pulled up on things like a little monkey all day today. I tried to get her to take it easy at first, but she was unstoppable. And, now we're back home. I hope that means no bumps or bruises for a day or two.