How does this sort of thing happen?!?!

So tonight (Tuesday, April 24th, 2012) started off as a "normal" night. We ate dinner, went to Tanion's Pinewood Derby, came home and the kids were playing outside. Jeremiah decided to mow the lawn while I was taking my friend to pick up her crib. Completely normal, nothing weird night.

Right as I was pulling in to Babies-R-Us, Jeremiah calls me and has panic in his voice. "Meet me at the Emergency Room NOW." I can hear crying in the back ground and I'm pretty sure it's Robyn. I say ok and ask which kid is hurt (thinking we've gotten our first broken arm from the trampoline). Jeremiah says "Robyn. She has a wire sticking out of her head." WTF?!?!

While Jeremiah was mowing the lawn, Robyn was playing near the middle of the retaining wall (4-ish feet up in the air). He was mowing near our swing set and he sees a spark come out from under the mower. He thinks he hit a rock or something, no big deal. Then Robyn starts crying / screaming. He shuts down the mower to go see if she's ok, thinking she's the victim of the flying rock. It wasn't a rock. It was a 3-inch piece of tie-wire and it is sticking out the side of Robyn's head. Did I mention that he was a good 30-40 feet away from her? On the ground?!

Imagine the face you would make if you see a cute little 4 year old girl crying and then you see a freaking wire sticking out of her head just above her left temple. Shocked? Yeah, so was everyone else. We got right back in at the ER. We got the doctor's attention right away. We were case #1 there for a while. And that's saying something since there were about 15-20 people in the wait room when we got there. It seemed like people that work at the hospital were all sort of trying to see it. Honestly, it looked like she had a stick in her hair (and actually, one of the nurses who was taking her back in for the CT scan thought it was and almost tried to take it out of her hair!)

She did pretty good actually. She cried a lot at first because she just wanted to go home. And she would not let anyone touch anywhere near it. And she did not want the pulse monitor on. I think she fought it the most!

Robyn had a CT scan and they saw that the wire pierced her skull, barely making it through to the other side of the skull bone. But the ER doctor, the Pediatric Neurologist from Primary Children's (consult over the phone after looking at the CT scan results), and the Radiologist - all thought that it could be removed without surgery. So 3 Nurses, Jeremiah and the doctor all came in, held down Robynson and pulled the wire out of her head. It was inside of her head almost 1/2 inch exactly and there were just over 2-1/2" on the outside. They then flushed it out and put a small staple in the side of her head. She was good as new.

Robyn kept talking on the way home (and in the parking lot of Rite Aid while we waited for her anti-biotic prescription) about how everyone is just so worried about her and that she is just so brave. I think she is right on both accounts! We will have to watch her and make sure she stays "normal Robyn" and that there isn't any infection, excess swelling or fluid leakage, but they all think that she should be ok! Lots of prayers and scares, but we're all good! *phew!*

So are you wanting to see pictures?

Robynson smiling for Jeremiah -
with the wire sticking out from her head!

Robynson not happy we are taking pictures -
with the wire sticking out from her head!

Side view (harder to see)


CT Scan Image #1 - Front View
(her head is slightly tilted so they could see it better)

CT Image #2 - Above View
See it there on the
(well, your right, but picture has the L for left)
That's where it pierced into her skull

MAN! Seriously! All we can think is how lucky we are! And just dumbfounded that it happened in the first place. Jeremiah and I keep laughing and saying "HOW THE HELL!?!" It's just so completely random and freak accident crazy!

So count your blessings, kiss your babies, read the warnings (and don't think "How often does that really happen?" - like Miah did just prior to this happening!)

And if you are curious, apparently the chances of getting hit from an item that comes out of a lawn mower are 3623 to 1. Chances of it piercing through your skull while standing on a retaining wall 30-40ft away? Not sure. But I will no longer take those odds.

Robynson cut her hair...

February 22nd, 2012....

A few days after we got home from Disneyland, Robyn mentioned that she needed her bangs cut. They were starting to get in her eyes and she didn't like it. I should have taken care of it that night... But I didn't and she decided to take things into her own hands the next day while I was at work...

This was BEFORE I took her in to get it fixed.

The lady who was fixing her hair asked what we were doing. Robyn told her she wanted hair like the lady on the poster. You know, no biggie. Just dark, half way down her back and full of beautiful curls. The lady laughed and said "Oh, we're doing extensions?" :)

After looking over the damage, we decided that really, the only hair style that was going to even partially work was a "pixie cut". Which is what I took as "girl term for a boy haircut".

For weeks when people would ask her why she cut her hair, Robyn would say "I only cut the front and the sides! The lady at the hair cut place cut the back!" I think she was pretty happy with her next to the scalp mullet. And the lady at Great Clips just made it shorter. :)

AFTER with a "Pixie Cut"

Robyn loves it. It's easy to do and she gets to wear lots of cute head bands and flowers in her hair. Jeremiah likes it too. Easier for him to do when he takes her to school! All you have to do is add a little mousse (we call it her "Moose Hair" and tell her she's going to grow antlers) or gel and mess it up a little and she's good to go. And I have to admit, it's grown on me too. :)

But MAN... She sure looks like her brothers now!

Disneyland pictures ARE coming. I promise!

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that we went to Disneyland... I have been busy making the book which I can post a link to and picking out favorites from 1900+ Pictures.... So I'm going to skip Disneyland for now and post a few other things...

Pictures with Santa 2011

(left to right) Brad, Dan, Jed and Jeremiah

In High School, I hung out with a group of guys who were, with the exception of Jeremiah, all from Wallsburg. I loved my Wallsburg boys. Dan, Brad, and Jedd. To this day, I still call Dan's mom "Mom" and his little sister "Sis". Jedd has been one of my best friends since I was 8 years old (and was my childhood "Love of my Life"). Brad was always the goofy friend you could depend on for a laugh. Brad passed away in a car accident back in 2002. I still have a love for his family (whom I've sort of adopted as extended family). His older sister and brother-in-law are some of my parents best friends and we have vacationed with them several times. They are often invited to family functions. I've always loved Brad's Mom and Dad. They just have a wonderful goodness about them.

Brad's Dad (Dale) moonlights as Santa. Who knew?! I mean, I knew they moved to Alaska, but who knew that all this time, back in the day, I was hanging out at the REAL Santa's house?! This year for my family's Christmas Party, which almost always includes extra family and friends who are also considered "family", Santa Dale came.


When Santa Dale came in, ringing his bells, all of the kids had the "HOLY CRAP!" look on their face. Most ran out of the room and hid. :) It was really cute / funny. They were all in shock that the REAL Santa made a stop at THEIR party. They all eventually came around. Except Archer.


Archer ran outside. He was running around the house and we couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then when Jeremiah convinced him to come inside, he went into my parents bathroom, sat in the tub and started bawling. I went in to talk to him because he was so upset. When I got him calmed down enough that he could talk, I asked him what was wrong. He said that he just wanted to know if that was the REAL Santa or not. And when he went outside, he couldn't see a sleigh or the reindeer, but that he looked real. After about 10 minutes with Archer, he finally trusted me that it was the REAL Santa and how we could tell was that he has a real beard. The fake Santa's all have the cotton pretend beards, but ours - he was the real deal. Even when he approached Santa, you ccould see the fear. He wouldn't really talk to him at first. And when he did, he was nervous. Afterwards, though, Archer was glowing. Because he met the REAL Santa. (Thanks, Santa Dale.) :)


(I apologize for the pictures - they were taken with my camera phone. The lighting wasn't great, there was something fuzzy on my lens, etc...)

Picture Overload

I thought I would post some collage pictures of some of the fun things we've been doing... And some of the "daily life" pictures as well... :)

DarTanion's Every Morning Hair :)
He's growing it out like Dad's...


Kaylee and Robyn's new outfits,
courtesy of Grandpa Sherrill


Riding the Thomas the Train while at the Train Expo


Mr. Fluffypants,
our evil-looking (yet fun-loving and gentle) 13lb. cat


Archer with the giant Nut Cracker @ Temple Square
(he LOVES nut crackers)


Robyn made herself a bath in the kitchen sink :)


Family Sleepy Time Pictures


Riding the Train @ the Mall

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Those are just a few pictures of some of our happenings here @ the Hardman House. :) More posts soon!

Creative Kid :)

Earlier this month, Archer won a Character Counts award for "Imagination". Jeremiah and I were there for the assembly and when they announced what the theme for the month was, we both laughed. Archer was a shoe-in for this award. There is no kid quite as creative / imaginative as this little guy that we have ever met (and his teachers all agree)! He was SO excited to win. He said that when he saw us at the assembly, he knew it was either him or Tanion that had won something, so he crossed his fingers and toes and hair, hoping that it was him. ;) Cute little guy.


Speaking of using his imagination and creating things, Archer has wanted to build a robot for a while now. Grandma and Grandpa Hardman were aware of this and bought the coolest present for Christmas. It was a make-your-own Tin Can Robot. Archer had been begging to build the robot, so Jeremiah finally sat down and took an afternoon to build it with him. Jeremiah helped, but we made sure that Archer did a lot of the work himself.


This lovely little tin can robot (whom Archer named Gary) will walk around slowly, but surely on the kitchen table or floor. :) Archer is super proud of his "invention". :) Now, if only Fred (Archer's new imaginary friend who gets the blame for everything bad) will leave it alone!!!

Things from 2011 that I never posted...

I didn't do a lot of posting in 2011 and since my whole family is still asleep and I have the day off, let's start 2012 off right with looking back at 2011!!

Archer's SMOLDER face (from Tangled)... Not bad!

Robynson's first day of Preschool
She loves it and has a great teacher!
We love that school!

DarTanion is in Scouts and has already got his Bobcat :)

My parents gave us a trampoline. The boys can now do flips (yay, more broken bones to come!) and Robyn just loves to bounce. Everyone had fun when we spent the night outside on the trampoline on Labor Day weekend.

Halloween is one of our favorite Holidays. Robyn had 3 different costumes (a butterfly, Thomas the Train, and a sandbox - her idea). Archer was the cutest Harry Potter you ever will see. DarTanion was a guy from the movie TRON. Jeremiah helped to make Tanion's costume (out of an old costume and orange duct tape!)

Our family at our Ward Halloween Costume.

DarTanion went hunting with Grandpa Sherrill. This kid has never been so excited to be awake at 5am!

This is just a great picture of the kids playing together in the dirt circle (the lawn under where the tenants pool was this year). Robyn got covered and Miah was getting ready to put her in the shower to wash off some of the dirt. He had to take a picture because when he took off her shirt, you could see the line where the dirt ended (at her sleeves). She really WAS covered!

This is just because I LOVE the bottom of Robyn sticking out her tongue. SO HER and SO FUNNY!

The day before our first family Christmas party of 2011, we realized that we didn't have a typical "cute picture of all 3 kids" for the Christmas cards. So we ran out to the park near by (in 35° weather) and made the kids smile for pictures. These are a few of my favorites of all 3 together.

*******************

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few so that there was some of 2011 documented for the world (and family) to see. Love you all!

New Idea for the New Year...

Since I have been REALLY great at NOT posting anything on the blog this last year, I've decided to try and be better. My new Bloggy Goals for 2012 are:
*Each blog post doesn't need to have a picture (though it probably will).
*Each blog post doesn't have to have a HUGE story (though some might).
*Each blog post doesn't have to have a story for each picture (though they might).

Instead, I'm just going to try to post things that I love. Like a little story from one of the kids that I don't want to forget. Or a picture that is just wonderful. That way, you still get to see a little snippet from our lives - exciting or not (and whether I have "time" or not!)

We'll see if that will help us end up more than our whole 20-ish posts from last year!

Loves!
~The Hardman Family