Sunday, January 29, 2012

There's a reason I don't like them playing in the front yard

My kids always want to play in the front yard. We have this awesome porch swing that I let them play on, but usually I tell them to stay out of the yard. On Friday they were waiting for a friend to come over so I let them wait out in the yard. A few minutes later Hallie came in and said, "Mom, don't be mad. Gracie is stuck in the ditch." I usually get nervous when she starts something with "don't get mad", but the ditch in the yard is not that big. How could she get stuck in it. I came out to see Gracie's head sticking out of the drainage pipe! She had gone in feet first, but on coming out had wedged her leg perpendicular to the pipe. Here's a picture of the pipe for reference.
As Hallie stood on the side crying I tried to figure out how to unwedge Gracie's leg. Gracie started to get worried when I couldn't get her out right away so she cried, "Pray, Mama! Pray!" At least now she was making good decisions! Every time I tried to move her leg she said it hurt so I started wondering if I would have to call the police. Luckily, after just a few failed attempts, Gracie was able to bend her leg underneath her, go all the way inside until she was under the grate, then she had room to straighten out her leg and slide back out--straight this time.

Tony pulled up from work just as Gracie was climbing out. He had brought brownies home (leftover from a luncheon) so the kids quickly forgot the ordeal and enjoyed their brownies. I kept asking Gracie why on earth she climbed in there. At first she said she slipped. When I didn't buy that she finally admitted she wanted to see if she could fit. Apparently she can, just not sideways.

On a different note, here's some pictures of Elizabeth. She had her one month check up on Wednesday and is now 11lbs. 2 oz. and 22 1/2" long. That's 2 pounds heavier and 1" longer than when she was born. She's already in size 2 diapers since she has chubby little thighs. I've never had a baby grow this fast. All my others were born average (or maybe a little more) then they grew incredibly slow. Like a full 2 months to get to 10 pounds slow. But not Elizabeth! And at the risk of jinxing myself, she slept 6 straight hours last night! None of my other kids did that this early either. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke.

Elizabeth does smile when you can get her to look at you, but it takes a lot more work than it did with Clara. I tried for quite a while to get a picture of her smiling, but this is as close as we got.


Clara loves Elizabeth and always know what she wants. "Baby wants a pacifier." "Baby wants some milk." "Baby wants a bath." "Baby wants a sippy cup." (As she tries to feed Elizabeth her sippy cup) When Clara wants to hold Elizabeth she says, "I wanna hold it." Which makes us think she sees Elizabeth as one of her dolls.

Here's a nice picture of Clara holding Elizabeth.


Here's what it usually looks like. (Don't worry, she's not actually choking!)

3 comments:

The Hargretts said...

OH MY GOSH Gracie is too funny. What a little scary incident though. Elizabeth is SO cute. I haven't seen any pictures yet of her so it was nice to see. I'm happy to hear everything is going so well for you guys. We miss you all a lot!!

Preston and Angie said...

Hahaha. I can totally picture Hallie saying "don't be mad mom." Haha. And of course seeing Gracie stuck in the pipe would be chaotic! I probably would have left her there to get the camera. Ha. Good thing you're better than that! Glad it worked out. And, I agree - Elizabeth is adorable!

Tricia said...

What a story about Gracie getting stuck! Scary! Here is hoping Elizabeth continues to be a good sleeper!