a DREADED noise

Have you ever heard a noise, and know exactly what it is but at the same time hope to god that you are wrong??

This morning Lou left for work and I was helping the boys in the guest bedroom put together some Geotrax. Lexi was playing nicely in the bonus room and all I had to do was lean backwards and peek through the doorway to see her. All of a sudden I heard horrible thumping sounds and just knew what it was. I jumped up and as I was running into the bonus room saw that the baby gate was open and that Lexi was no where to be seen. Unfortunately I was right - the noise that I heard was my sweet baby girl falling down the hardwood floor stairs to the landing. Luckily, she only fell down (that sounds so wrong to even write that) 5 stairs to the landing below. She of course, started crying. After checking her over and calming her down, I concluded that she was fine - probably scared herself to bits (as well as took 10 years off my life!), but I was unable to find any bumps, bruises, cuts, marks, etc. anywhere on her body (thank goodness). Obviously I hadn't realized that the gate was NOT locked (it was closed, but not locked) and I have since sworn to keep that sucker locked even if I am not in the room!

This afternoon was spent at Lou's work yearly summer picnic (Actuarial department only) at a public park in the town over from us. We skipped (I say "we" loosely - I believe that Luis went without me or the kids) the last 2 years so it was nice to go see some of the people I am friendly with. They had a bounce house, snow cones, a clown and a pinata for the kids. The boys took turns batting at the pinata and were thrilled to get some of the candy that eventually rained down on all the kids. But they spent most of the time in the bounce house (surprise surprise). I took Lexi for a nice leisurely walk so that she could catch some shut eye and not become the crankiest kid on the block.

It was a fun afternoon, topped off with the kids favorite treat - McDonald's. Which was a treat for me since it meant that I didn't have to cook dinner :-)