feeling blue...

...and black and purple.

I know I've shared a lot of family stuff lately, but I've got one more.

Lynn does this thing with Ella she thinks is hilarious. He lifts her up over his shoulder and carries her like a "sack of potatoes." In fact, that's what they call it. On Monday night at bedtime, Elles was running around the couch so Lynn couldn't catch her. She's fast. It usually takes both of us to corral her. Lynn finally caught her and lifted her up, but instead of landing on his shoulder, she kept going--right over his back and hitting the floor head first. It was the worst sound I've ever heard. I was positive we were headed to the emergency room.

Lynn scooped her up and we checked her head, nose, neck and pupils. A huge goose egg was forming so we got the ice pack. Then her eye started getting puffy..and black..and blue. We knew she was going to have a black eye.

We got Ella settled down and I grabbed my laptop to check WebMD. It listed all the symptoms to look for with a concussion. Ella didn't have any, but it said we needed to keep an eye on her for the next 24 hours. We took turns checking on her all night. 

Lynn felt terrible. After my initial feelings of fear and concern, I was mad, so I let him wallow in it for awhile. I really had to keep my mouth shut. What I wanted to blurt out was, "What the h#** were you thinking?" But I knew it wouldn't help. Lynn stayed home yesterday in case we needed to take Ella to the doctor. Elles wanted him to stay by her most of the day. She told me she likes dad better. (She's a daddy's girl all the way and we all know it--no hurt feelings here.) But I did have to tease Lynn and quietly whispered, "She wants to be with you more, even though you dropped her?!"

Ella is doing well, but she's super self-conscious for her friends to see her.

Last night at bedtime, she hopped up off the couch and excitedly said, "Dad, let's do sack of potatoes. I'll hold on this time!"

Seriously? NO MORE "sack of potatoes!"

***Update***

Elle's eye is looking so much better. I'm surprised at how quickly it's healing! Every morning when she wakes up, the first words out of her mouth are, "Is my black eye gone?"

The day after "the incident," Ella didn't want to go to school. She called her BF, Jordan, when school was over, and this is the conversation I heard:

Jordan: Why didn't you come to school today?
Ella: I have a black eye. You should see it, it's SO embarrassing. My dad dropped me. Come over and I'll show it to you.

You'll notice she's sitting on the counter and not a chair. Geez!