Phoenix

I feel like I owe you a post that is not spattered in blood and misfortune. So instead, I'll tell you about our Spring Break trip to Phoenix! Although it does involve me getting stuck in an elevator for 40 minutes with two two-year-olds, which certainly could compete with an emergency room trip in terms of levels of anxiety.

My parents have a condo in Phoenix, and my brothers were visiting with their families, so it turned out to be a great impromptu family reunion of sorts. I flew to Phoenix with the three kids (eek) while Eric was in San Antionio for the Final Four. It was a two-leg journey through Detroit, but the kids did awesome.

Nobody gets lost with bright colors.

Finally arrived and exhaustion has hit.

 

But not for long, because there are pools that need to be swum (swam?) in!

 

Eric met us a few days later and as he does wherever he travels, he hit up all the sporting events he could including the Diamondbacks and the Suns.

 

Two Tar Heels, Vince Carter and Justin Jackson.

 

 

I love this picture because Brady is so miserable and wants to jump out of his skin. Jackson is chillin.

 

We also hiked, which I loved and was especially impressed by Jackson, who didn't slow us down, never complained, and had a great time.

Brady did not like when I pointed out how high we were and liked to hug the inside of the mountain.

 

 

 

 We also got lots of cousin time! Speaking of uphill climbs, try to keep this crew tame in the retirement community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, there was the elevator incident. Elevators are so much fun that Avery and her cousin Sawyer, who is 10 hours older and 10 pounds heavier, wanted to ride from the 2nd floor of the condo complex to the 1st floor. 

I quickly realized we were very stuck. The kids had no idea for at least 20 minutes. We were armed with water, an orange ball, and some great attitudes.

 

 

I called for help and a 15 minute arrival of rescue staff turned into much longer. Avery said she had to pee about 30 minutes in and I assessed the practicality of taking the diaper off Sawyer and putting it on Avery. I didn't think that would go well for either party, so instead I turned on Peppa Pig which distracted Avery and also helped Sawyer, whose let's-party-in-the-elevator attitude was changing to get-me-outta-here. Lights randomly going out and the emergency buzzer sporadically blasting didn't help things.

We were freed after about 40 minutes with no tears, no urine, and an extra incentive to take the stairs.

Why Jackson isn't allowed to carry his sister

Well after avoiding the ER for over 6 years, the universe corrected itself and on Sunday, we visited a the emergency room for the second time in two months. The patient, no surprise, was Avery once again. Everyone was all dressed in their Sunday best, getting ready to head off to church, when I heard a cry from the boys' room. Avery came in crying, no rare thing, and Jackson said that he had been carrying her, and fell forward and dropped her into the edge of the wall. I got her in my arms and I discovered my white pants were speckled with blood, along with my hands and everything else close to Averys head. She was pretty inconsolable for a while so we kept pressure on her head until the bleeding stopped, and we realized that not only would be not be making church, but we would be making a trip to the hospital.

 

Thankfully, Averys screaming wore her out, and she took a short nap on me while the bleeding stopped. When she woke, she was her happy self, so we loaded her in the car, dropped the boys at a friend's house, and drove in to town. She asked a few times where we were going and it broke my heart evading her question. Last month when we went in for an innocuous well check up, Avery lost her mind, with memories of her last trauma still fresh. Eric dropped us off and I dropped the news. She took it as I thought she would; not well.

It was a slow ER day, thankfully, so prep for getting staples was quickly underway. First step was numbing, which in theory shouldn't have been too bad, but in practice was close to Waterboarding.  

 

Notice the beautiful red streak in that blonde hair. 

20 minutes to let the numbing agents take effect and then comes the stapler that looks like, a stapler. She was really losing her mind at this point and I had her pinned down with my own legs and arms (thankfully she was able to lay down on me). They were having issues with the stapler and if I could have been heard over her screams, I may have screamed at them myself. The staples sounded, felt, and appeared to hurt pretty good despite said numbing medicine. But three quick staples and she was done (not done screaming, mind you). 

She was exhausted post procedure and a popsicle cheered her up, though she stayed firmly connected to me.

 

 

Red, like blood, my little smarties pants pointed out.

She went home and was immediately back to her old sweet self, matter of factor recounting her day at the ER like it was just a normal day in the life of Avery.

 

Goodbye hospital, hope to see you in a long long time.