A Scare, Buffalo Bill, Blood, and Books

I'm trying to catch up a bit, as I fell behind with blogging after our lovely trip to UT.  :)

Week of 3/3-3/8

Reid and I often, morbidly, joke that Rhett has a death wish.  He has "close calls" all the time and, so far, has caused us the most grief of any of the boys when it comes to physical danger.  (Others top the charts in other grief categories).  Well, I had a lovely friend take Connor for the day so I could spend more time than usual up in Billings.  Rhett was my little shopping buddy.  Our first stop was Target.  We leisurely browsed through the store.  Rhett thought he was cool stuff wearing these sunglasses (looking at himself in the mirror).

This kid is not one to sit still in the cart.  (Is there such a kid??)  He's always wriggling out of buckles, standing up, etc.  I'm constantly telling him to "sit down" and pull every trick I have out of my purse to get him to do so.  This day was no different.  I gave him my phone to play on while he sat in the big part of the cart.  It kept him content for quite awhile.  

As we were perusing the beautiful throw pillows, Rhett stood up (again) and as I reached to sit him down, he fell backward out of the cart, landing on the back of his head with a THUMP on the tile floor. 

 My. heart. stopped.  

You just envision these things as a mother, every time he'd stand up, I'd envision this happening.  Then it happened!  He yelped out so loud.  I quickly picked him up and held him.  Then, he went quiet, and limp, and was trying to close his eyes.  DUDE!  I did everything I could to keep his eyes open.  He would still respond to me so, thankfully, not unconscious.  He didn't have any blood, but a big red spot/bump.  I was nervous that he hurt his neck, since he didn't want to hold his head up.  I ditched my cart, and walked fast out to the car, just shaking.  He just laid on my shoulder.  I panicked.  Being far from home, I didn't know if I should take him to the ER, try to find an urgent care close by, etc.  I decided to call my pediatrician's nurse and explain his symptoms to find out what I should do.  She decided he had a mild concussion, and told me to keep him awake for awhile, then told me the signs of brain trauma to watch for.  Eeeek.  I knew he'd fall right asleep if I attempted to drive the 1.5 hrs home, so I gave him a sucker, and we went to Costco.  I held him for the first little while, then he started to get back to his happy self.  After about a half hour, he was saying hi to everyone we passed, and just being sweet.  Oh, I was so relieved.  I am SO glad his injury wasn't more serious.  I felt so horrible for letting it happen.  That awful image of him falling backward, that I can't shake, reminds me to keep him secure, despite his fits.  This experience definitely makes the Top 5 Most Terrifying Events in my career as a mother.  Oh, that boy!

The boys had Friday off of school, and Reid had the day off work, so we headed to Cody, WY to visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  It includes five different museums, and we hadn't explored any of  them yet.  I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the museums.  It didn't have as much for younger kids, as I had hoped, but I'd love to go back with Reid to spend more time reading the stories and captions.

An exhibit at The Plains Indians Museum

One of the museums is the Cody Firearms Museum.  It "houses the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world."  I think our brother-in-law Cody would be in heaven here.  The name is fitting.  :)  Sorry for the blurry pic!  I had little ones hanging on my arms at this point.

Lest we have an uneventful trip, Jack decided to make it eventful by slicing his finger while shooting one of the pistols in a shooting game.  He started yelping and freaking out.  It was bleeding pretty good, and started to drip.  I ran with him to the info desk asking for a bandaid.  Surely they would have a first aid kit?  No luck.  We hustled to the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood and cries behind us.  It was a sight.  

(We found a band aid and all was well.)

Clark taking pictures in front of the shooting games.

 In other news, I attempted to finish The Goldfinch for book club, but just couldn't get into it.  The book was LONG, the print was tiny.  It's set in NYC, and the "F" word is used freely.  Just wasn't into it.  

I finished Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.  I wasn't a big fan of this book.  It had a Groundhog Day feel (minus the hilarity of Bill Murray).  I ended up skimming through the last 1/4 of it.  The main character is in a group of "mean girls", and I just didn't care for her character or voice.  I was a little bummed, because I really liked Lauren Oliver's Delirium series.