Let's talk about poor Abby. In all the excitement of back to school, you might worry that she'd get forgotten. But not to worry, she's created enough excitement of her own during the last week!

On Friday, Katherine was home, so we decided to meet friends at the park for a picnic lunch. It sounds so simple. But, just as we sat down to eat, a bee flew near Abby. She's very skittish around bugs so she started swatting her hands shouting "GO AWAY BUG" and, as only my child could do, she smooshed the bee into her forehead, essentially stinging herself.

Enter parental panic. What do you do? I grabbed anything cold from our lunches to try to ice the area, but it was huge immediately. She was screaming and crying. We abandoned our picnic and went home.

(shortly after the sting)

After quick text consults from 2 of my nurse friends, I gave her expired Children's Claritin and Ibuprofen and tried to keep ice on her face. She has always believed in the magical healing powers of "Cinderella Cold." Cinderella is a small re-useable ice pack meant for minor injuries. For Abby, she's always been the magic healer - a quick visit from Cinderella Cold and abby would tell you "All better" and go on with her life. At some point during our treatment, Katherine was holding Cinderella, and managed to squeeze it hard enough to break it - causing gel to ooze out all over. I was annoyed about the mess. Abby, however, was DISTRAUGHT that Cinderella Cold was broken and heading to the garbage. For awhile there, she was far more upset about Cinderella than the bee sting. I figured she was fine and sent her to bed for her nap.

(just after nap, swelling is better!)

After her nap, the swelling was better and she was pretty happy. And, she was essentially fine that night - a little whiny, but overall she was fine. Gave her more Ibuprofen and sent her to bed.

(Saturday morning, swelling beneath eyes)

Saturday morning she woke up full of energy, singing and dancing like nothing was wrong. But she looked weird. It seemed like the swelling was more around her eyes than on her head. She didn't look right. More medicine, continued to watch her.

(after nap on Saturday, bad picture, but huge swelling, she didn't look like Abby)

After her nap on Saturday I got worried. She woke up completely swollen, so much so that the big girls were freaked out that she didn't look like Abby. She couldn't open her eyes all the way, and she was clearly uncomfortable. I called the pediatrician on call and he advised a more aggressive medication schedule. He also said he'd call in an Epi-pen just to be safe. He said one reaction like this does not mean that a future sting will be worse, but he would rather be safe than sorry. He also said sometimes it could take up to a week for the swelling to go away.
Luckily, by Sunday she was feeling much better - and even felt spunky enough to accessorize. (those are her princess shoes and tutu)
Monday she helped make the Labor Day pancakes. This was our way of bribing the girls into good behavior before we dropped the bomb - we were going to spend the day cleaning their rooms! HORROR! Actually they left us alone, helped as needed, and it was fairly painless. And a huge garbage bag was filled! Hooray! Fresh clean house before back to school on Tuesday!
Tuesday we needed sweatshirts at the bus stop - Delightful! Actually - Katherine spontaneously started doing jumping jacks and, well, then I had to pull out eh video camera. What do you get when you mix chilly weather, nervous excitement and Katherine? You get this. She really just makes me smile!

So with 2 girls off to school, and a gorgeous day to enjoy, what did Abby do? She took me to Starbucks and then insisted that we eat cookies, and drink our drinks outside. Then she announced it was time to practice our baseball. You never know when the Brewers might need an extra hand! I'd say Abby is just about ready to join the team.....what do you think?
Today was Katherine's last day home before her regular schedule of all day every day Kindergarten begins. It was a perfect weather day, so I thought she'd like to go to the zoo. But she told me instead, she'd really like to go to a park, and snuggle this afternoon. That was a hard sell! Ha! We went to a "new" park and had a blast. Then we came home for a quick picnic on the driveway, played with the neighbors, and then.....another Abby Injury! Katherine managed to bump into her while Abby was pushing a shopping cart. Somehow, she managed to bloody both of her thumbs. I had to put large band aids on both thumbs due to the bleeding. I don't think she minded the blood as much as it bothered her that her thumbs were immobilized! She cried herself to sleep, but woke up slightly better and was fine by bedtime tonight. Katherine and I had an hour of snuggles on the couch - I am going to miss those afternoon snuggles!

Tomorrow 2 big girls go to school and Abby will spend the afternoon at Aunti's (our sitter.) And hopefully, no one will get hurt in the process!