Finally posting about our Accident
Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Laura
So, here’s the story of the accident. We were going up to my mom’s house so that she could watch the kids while we went to dinner and a movie at Jordan Commons. As we were going up, Abby was screaming and unhappy and around American Fork had finally fallen asleep. I had just given Thomas some graham crackers to munch on, so Ben was looking in the rear view mirror to look at him and talk to him. When he looked back into the road, he saw what he thought was a diesel tire tread (but turned out to be a coat) in the road and swerved to avoid it. He had little reaction time, so he over-corrected. He over-corrected a few more times and we ended up hitting the middle barrier of the freeway head-on, then rolling over the passenger side and sliding to a halt.
Amazingly enough, no one was seriously injured. Both of the kids’ carseats worked flawlessly and both Ben and I were in our seat belts. Ben had a few cuts here and there and there was only 1 scratch on each of the kids. I was the one that got seriously injured. I was in quite a bit of pain from a seat belt burn on my neck. I also bruised my left breast pretty badly. My leg was also a bit bruised just below my knee and I got some cuts and glass in my feet. We’ve taken pictures of my injuries and the car. Go here to see them: Farewell Nymphadora
But here’s a preview of the car.
We were very lucky. We had a lot of protection, I know! After we rolled, my first thought was for the kids. I looked back and saw Thomas hanging from his carseat crying really hard. I reached back and managed to get him out while Ben got Abby. It was so weird to be laying on the ceiling. I had a lot of blood on my face, so I had most of the attention of the EMTs and people who stopped to help us. About 5 people stopped to help and one of them was a member of the gold cross, so he checked us over and made sure everything was ok. I’m really glad that nothing worse happened. It easily could have. Thank goodness our carseats worked perfectly and we were wearing our seat belts!
The worst thing is that we just payed off the car not 2 weeks before the accident. So, we enjoyed no car payments for not very long. We now have a Toyota Sienna van and we’re enjoying it a lot. I still miss our Avalon, though.
Thomas woke up that night from a nightmare. He said, “Car,” as he and Ben were walking to the tv. Then as they were watching George to calm Thomas down, he said, “Car broken!” He’d been saying that all night. Poor little kid. He’s been saying “Car broken!” ever since, but now there’s a new addendum. He says, “Car broken. New van!” It’s actually really cute. But we’re wondering when he’s going to forget that the car was broken and move on. It will probably be a while.
So, there you are. That’s our story. It’s a sad one.
Weirdest thing. Both my cousin and one of Ben’s coworkers passed us on the freeway. In fact, my cousin was right behind the ambulance as it pulled out with me, Thomas, and Abby inside. And I found out on Saturday that my great uncle was also driving by when it happened. Small world.
Hospitals and haircuts
Posted on July 4th, 2009 by Ben
Happy 4th of July!
Today has been filled with excitement so far. We invited Richard and Sariah over for dinner last night. We had Hawaiian Haystacks — Laura makes a mean batch. Anyway, after dinner, we decided to watch some of the BBC Pride and Prejudice on Blu-ray (it looks and sounds SO much better than the DVD — maybe the most striking difference I have yet observed when comparing. However, Sleeping Beauty also looks much better…). We were watching the 3rd episode, and were about halfway in when Sariah said “I don’t know what that was, but I need to find a bathroom.” My first thought was “I wonder if her water just broke.”
Sure enough.
About 10 minutes later they were on their way to the hospital, the end result being the birth of Caleb Merrill Bateman this morning at 7:01. I’ll let them cover the rest of the details. While I’m not exactly sure I’d want my birthday to be the 4th of July, at least Caleb won’t have to worry about taking his birthday off of work when he’s older!
Being the 4th of July, we came up Laura’s parents’ house so we can go watch the fireworks at Sugarhouse Park tonight; apparently, this may be the last year they do the fireworks, so the end of a bi-annual tradition. Before coming up, I was talking with Thomas about haircuts, and he said he wanted “haircut today.” Of course, he didn’t really mean that — he passionately despises haircuts — but that didn’t stop me from giving him one. So, we plopped him down in his booster, strapped him in, and put him in front of Signing Time on the TV as a bit of a distraction. He fought and screamed until I started, but then he calmed down when I turned on the clippers. For about the first 60% of the haircut, he was fine. Then he started whining, moaning, squirming. Then he started vehemently struggling for freedom.
Remember the story of the first haircut? How we cut his ear? And remember how his ear got cut when we took him to Cookie Cutters too? Well, his ear got cut this time, too. Both of them, as usual.
I have a theory. Thomas is young, with very soft skin. So, there’s strike one. Also, when he screams and fights, his face gets bright red. Well, everyone’s does. So you combine the two things, and you have soft skin with a lot of extra blood in it = extra blood pressure = easier to cut, and when it does cut much easier to bleed. The cut on his right ear bled so badly that it was dripping onto his shoulder, legs, etc. I took him in to have a bath, and when he saw some blood drip onto his arms and leg he absolutely flipped out. Screams of pure terror! So, I washed him off, put him in the tub, and put in some bubbles so he wouldn’t see how the drips of blood kept discoloring the water. After a couple minutes of bath he calmed down, his ears stopped bleeding, and he is good as new. You can barely tell he was cut. As always, Thomas looks about a year older now that his hair has been cut.
So, there’s our day so far. Hopefully the rest of the day isn’t quite as exciting…
100% Boy
Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by Ben
Time to share another cute thing Thomas does. Why? Because he was doing it all day so it was a topic of conversation, and thus blog-worthy.
Thomas has taken to pointing out various bodily functions with great insistence. Specifically those related to the digestive system. Even more specifically those involving his bum. Or Abby’s bum. It doesn’t really matter whose bum, really. Whenever Thomas passes gas, he looks up, smiles, and says enthusiastically, “I toot!” (“Thomas toot!” is used interchangeably.) And he will continue to say it until you respond in acknowledgment. If Abby passes gas, he says “Abby toot!” And of course, if he is poopy or thinks Abby is poopy, he’ll say “Thomas (Abby) poopy!”
Funnily enough, he was saying “Abby poopy” this morning, and neither Laura nor I thought she was. Well, apparently Thomas’ nose is more sensitive than ours. I guess his plentiful toots haven’t permanently destroyed his ability to smell like it has mine!
