An Announcement and a Story

I know I have been a blog slacker lately, but I promise I have a good reason. I am pleased to announce that I now have a thriving small business right here in my own home.

That is a professional way of saying that I am now babysitting a bazillion kids.

I decided I wanted to do this, and with some encouragement from my friends and loved ones (thanks especially to Sarah C.!), I took the plunge. I got off to a very slow start in January (with one paying client the whole month), but I am officially All Booked Up as of this week.

All of my clients are part-time, and I never have more than three kids here that don't belong to me. I actually still have a few slots, but they are completely random and at odd hours of the week.

But all of this is really a preface to an exciting Kate NaNa story.

Kate NaNa knows not to jump on the bed. She knows how much trouble her biggest brother got into when he broke his bed. She knows that someone could jump on top of her and hurt her. It's happened before. But this did not stop her, her bigger brother, or her buddy, C, from doing it anyway.

I was downstairs with C's little brother and another little boy I watch. I heard a thud, a pause, and then a cry. Then Will comes tearing down the stairs to get me. When I got up there, Kate was crying, but I couldn't find any wounds so I brought her downstairs to calm down. After a quick search I found it. Kate had a gash on the back of her head, and I was fairly certain it would need stitches.

I calmly called C's mom, and told her I needed to take Kate to the doctor. I calmly called the other boy's mom. I calmly called Tim and then the doctor's office to let them know I would be arriving soon. While all of this is going on, I am holding pressure on her head and giving instructions to C (age 4) to bring me a phonebook, bring me a blanket, bring me... whatever.

C's mom got here very quickly, and agreed that it would need to be closed, offering to stay with the other child until his mom arrived. So I get ready to put Kate in the car. The mom said, "Umm, Amy, where is Will?" Oh, no! Will put your shoes on NOW! (Perhaps I am not as calm as I thought?)

So off we race to the doctor, who decided that staples were in order. Don't you just cringe when you hear that? I know I did. But I promise, it was way less traumatic than it sounds (or looks). And it was much faster than stitches. Kate informed me later that it didn't even hurt:) Well, the falling part did, but not the doctor part. I would post pictures, but I am pretty sure it would gross out 95% of you.

OK, so it wasn't super exciting, but it was more excitement than I care for in a day. I wish I could tell you I had a boring weekend planned, but alas, it is not meant to be.