As a mother this week has not been fun so far. It started out with Jaxom getting stung by some unseen assailant while sitting on the couch. All I knew was that all of the sudden he was screaming bloody murder and his thumb was twice the size it should be. Then I saw the tell tale mark of a sting!
Concidering that at any given moment any member of my family, save me, could be struck dead by an insect no larger than the end of my thumb, this was not a happy moment.
The most important thing is to get him to calm down. Which is no easy task. For my brother in law a stong ‘SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP’ works. But for Jaxom that is just not the approach to take. So I got him calmed down, and got him a dose of benedryl. Then I called Brian. He said: “Is everyone dressed? If not make sure they are so you can go if you need to, you will know in the first 15 minutes if you need to take him anywhere.” Great. Ok, get everyone dressed. “Just watch him and if he gets all itchy all over then take him in.” Ok I waited, he didn’t get itchy, the swelling stayed confined to his thumb, which I think was due to the fact that his other hand was clamped to the base of it like a turnoquette. I actually think that was the best thing It sure confined the swelling!
Eventually the benedryl knocked him out and he slept it off for about 4 hours.
Fast forward to Tuesday night.
Tuesday is my night off. I go to various functions on Tuesdays so it just makes sense. Last night was InJoy a women’s group at church. So afterward I had some errands to run. So I ran! My phone rings while I am in the boys section of Walmart contemplating what socks to buy for Jaxom. “Do you know where the nebulizer is?” Me: Yeah it’s with me in the car (we had taken the nebulizer for Caleb/Brian/Jaxom’s asthma, up to the zoo with us because it was ozone action day and it was still in the van) him: “ok, well Caleb needs it pretty badly but don’t rush, he’ll be ok for a little while” (ok probably not his exact words but that’s what I got) So I got done with my shopping (you know my Walmart carries Interweave Knits .. but no other knitting mags!! UGH) Use the self checkout cause every line is a mile long as usual. And book it home. Poor Caleb, he did sound terrible! I had to give him another treatment today too. Poor thing!
Fast forward to this morning.
We were in the back yard, the kids in the swim suits running through the sprinkler. Caleb was off at the sand box avoiding getting wet having his own fun. I had just sat down on the porch to enjoy the fun and do a little planning on the book projects when I heard a snap. In my yard which is full of VERY tall trees that tell tale snap can only mean one thing. Something is coming down. I have never felt so helpless, before I even had a chance to process the sound and turn to where it was coming from this was falling
That is a pretty big one. The main part is about 4 inches in diameter.
Caleb was in the sand box on the left (see red arrow) the branch fell about 30 feet away to the right (see purple arrow)
I saw it coming down, I saw Caleb there. There was nothing I could do, I had no idea where it would ultimatly land, it looked like he was clear, he was, but it is amazing how much can go through your mind in a split second.
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