A Weekend of Firsts

This has been an overwhelming weekend of FIRSTS for us in the Davies' household.  It involved a trip to the hospital, a missing binkit and a hair trim.

To start, my husband Matt is from Portsmouth and lurves him some football.

Being from Portsmouth he supports Pompey Football Club with every fiber of his English being.  His brother Stew does as well (also hailing from Portsmouth).  Stew's wife Sue and myself are honorary Pompettes and both made a pact during the marriage ceremonies to respective brothers to live and die by the mighty Pomps (I get gifts so it is cool).  This weekend Pompey was playing Man United in Manchester for £50 a pop (no small price).  Matt really wanted to go and asked about a month ago if I also wanted to go and see Sue and Stew and the big game.  I was really excited to see Sue and Stew at their house in Buxton  (nearish to Manchester), but was not so excited to sit outside in February to watch Pompey get crushed (sorry fans) by Man U with my 3 year old for 50 quid a ticket.

A plan was quickly hatched - Let us all go to Buxton for the weekend.  Matt and I  would take separate cars since Matt was spending the next week away at a training course not too far away from where we would be staying.  We would get there Friday night and have some drinks, eat some snacks and catch up.  Saturday morning Matt and Stew and Sue would get the train to Manchester to watch the game while Maddie and I hung out in Buxton - a great town with probably the best park EVER (the pictures here are the park/gardens/pavillion).   An extra plan was hatched on Friday night that Sue and I were going to go out on Saturday night while the boys watched Maddie and then Sunday we could chill out (and stuff ourselves sick on Stew's Indian cuisine) until it was time for us to go.  What a better way to spend a weekend!

Here is how it played out:

After finally making it to Buxton in the snizzle and fog I was looking forward to re-lax-ing!  It was just when my tension headache from driving whilst squinting went away that I realized I had left something very important at home.  That's right folks - I left my daughter's Binkit (blanket) on the couch!  She has not been apart from this stinky piece of mango colored fluff since she was about 9 months old.  Explaining to my overtired child that she was going to have to cope without it was:

1. heart breaking
2. headache making
3. exasperating since she was rapidly trying to convince me that driving the 2 1/2 hours back to get it would not actually be much of a sacrifice if I really loved her.

She did actually manage okay, after I explained about mistakes and forgiveness.  In all fairness she had just broken a cat magnet of Sue's (who had forgiven her) and I did use this as ammo.....

Saturday the whole crew left for the big game and Maddie and I were left with the whole glorious day spread out before us.  What would we do?  We decided that we would walk to the park/pavillion, perhaps do a bit of shopping, get some crafts to make homemade Valentines cards and then make a slap up Mexican feast for the crew on their return.  I can tell you how the day went:

1.  Walked to the Park/Pavillion
2.  Played on the Playground
3.  Rushed to find a toilet because Maddie had to go
4.  Were about to go shopping after we found a toilet because I was getting cold
5.  Got manipulated into going back to the play area
6.  Went 36 rounds on the rope bridge before it won and sent Maddie head first from 6 feet up
7.  Called 999 for an ambulance
8.  Rode in my first ambulance with my 3 year old strapped up to oxygen and BP monitors while trying t    to call my husband who was at a football match and couldn't hear me.
9.  Hung out in the nearest hospital to Buxton (40 minutes away) until the doctors were convinced that Maddie was not concussed and would be safe if taken home.

Sunday, Maddie and I had an uneventful drive home to Lincoln, stopped for lunch where I almost had to give her the heimlich (sp???) maneuver to remove a lodged french fry from her throat. Seriously, whenever Matt is gone we can not go more than 24 hours without something paramount to a Greek Tragedy happening.

After finally making it home in one piece we unwound ... and at bath time I decided that Maddie really needed a haircut.  This one may not sound like a big deal but she has never had a single head trimmed from her head. This might not be entirely true as I am fairly sure Matt has had to cut crap out of her hair on more than one occasion and I am fairly sure as well that he has admitted at least one instance to me out loud.    Let me explain Maddie's hair.  She has a strip of baby hair that is about 4 inches longer that the rest of the blonde curly tendrils that flank her head - and it lies on the top of it like dead straw.  I am not sure why I chose tonight to do it but was on a mission: the rat tail had to go.  I convinced her to let me trim it and although she was a bit apprehensive, she actually let me do it.  I would like to say that I lovingly draped her with a towel and snipped it off lovingly in tiny bits.  Truth was, I saw an opportunity, grabbed the 'tail' with my fist and chopped it off in a oner.  I am happy to report that she now has a gorgeous shoulder length bob and the rat tail has been lovingly tied in a ribbon and stuffed in her baby book.  The 'haircut' completed our weekend of firsts.

I am exhausted and hope not to have a week of seconds (left behind loved things, ambulance rides or missing hair)!  As is typical, however, when Matt is away surely:

1.  I will end up in the Emergency Room
2.  My car will break down
3.  The dog will need to go to the vet
4.  Maddie will get ill

Did I mention that the above four things happen in three's?!?  Send me some good karma kind peoples - I really need it right now ;p