Memorial day weekend was definitely memorable for many reasons, but for purposes of this post I'll keep with the subject referenced in the title. I fell for the first time - and hopefully the last time - with Evan in my arms.
It was Saturday morning and I was rushing around. Friday night when I put Evan to bed, I shut his drapes. Apparently, complete and total darkness helps ensure Evan sleeps until 7:30ish or later. He had been waking up at 6 am without fail for two weeks straight. This one little change changed the sleep pattern. Normally, Evan sleeping in is a good thing. It wasn't on Saturday. I needed to drive up to Excelsior and drop him off at my brother and sister-in-law's house, then head to Overland Park to get ready for a wedding, pick the bride up, make sure she was ready and make sure to get her to the place on time.
Evan slept in and we rushed. When I had him up, fed, dressed and myself showered, dressed and somewhat put together, I loaded up the car. Then I grabbed Evan and all of his stuff. His stuff accounted for a full diaper bag, a grocery bag full of some baby food and other snacky snacks and toys. I also had my purse and a newly filled travel mug filled with piping hot coffee.
I grabbed Evan and all of the remaining stuff and headed out the door. I dropped the keys, which meant I had to put Evan down, grab them, lock the door then scoop him back up and head out.
There are four steps from our back gate down to the driveway. I think I missed them all. Suddenly laying on the ground, my first thought - fear, actually - was that I just killed or severely injured Evan. Nope. He was sitting on me. Just looking around. Not crying. No blood. No broken bones. No third-degree burns from spilled coffee. Not a worry in the world.
Thank God!
I was not in as good of shape. I really don't know what happened or how, but here is my best guess.
Based on how I landed and the blood and bruises (through JEANS no less), my knees took the worst of the fall and then I twisted to the side so Evan landed on me, instead of me on Evan. I think I must have thrown my coffee mug during the fall because it was half-way down the parking lot. The tops of my feet - right where foot meets leg - must have slammed down on the corner of the last step because both are bruised to this day.
My left elbow hurt worse than anything. After my knees hit, I must have caught myself with my elbow. I was convinced it was broken when we first hit, but amazingly there isn't even a scratch on it. Weird. Maybe the diaper bag helped break my fall.
After I knew Evan was okay came the difficult task of getting up. I wasn't sure if I could. Like I said, my knees took the worst and I was certain my elbow was broken. I didn't know if I could stand. But, I composed myself and slowly got up, gathered everything up, and kept moving. Aside from some pretty nasty bruises and a skinned up knee, I didn't have any injuries that a good dose of Advil couldn't handle.
Fast forward two days to Monday. Brian and I were both off of work and the Royals were just starting a home stand. We thought it would be the perfect day to take him to his first baseball game - and it was. We bought tickets down the third base line to ensure we would be in the shade. Before heading to the game, we hit Rally House to get him his first KC baseball hat. We've mentioned several times before that baby boy has a HUGE HEAD. His head was far too big for baby/toddler hats and we had to go straight to the Youth-size hats. It was a litte big, but much better than the skull-crushing baby sizes.
We went to the game and Evan did great. He ate a whole hot dog, tried some nachos, got a ball from someone on the Angel's training staff (third base is the visitor's dugout) and a certificate stating that May 30 Evan became an official Royal's fan by attending his first baseball game. He also got his first scraped up knee. Brian took up to the fan area in the outfield to walk around since he was getting restless in the seats. He fell but didn't cry. Brian said he wasn't phased by it at all.
It was as close to the perfect day as anyone could ever have. That evening, Brian and I had so much just playing with Evan and watch him chase Truman around the living room. It was getting close to bed time when Evan started fake falling. He would dance around and then collapse to the ground. He thought this was really funny and his laughter was contagious... until he fake falled head-first into the coffee table.
That brought us back to reality. Brian and I raced over to him. Brian got him first. He had an instant HUGE bruise down the middle of his forehead where he caught the corner. He cried and cried, but we eventually got him calmed down and put to bed.
All my friends and family with boys said to get use to the bruises and scraped knees as there will be many. They are right.
