the good - the bad - the 'ugly'...

well, where do i start?... yesterday was a good day, but VERY VERY busy... i dropped kiara off at preschool (fishers), drove to mom's to pick her up (pendleton), drove to the statehouse to drop off mom's paperwork for it to be authenticated (indianapolis), went to pick up kiara (fishers), drove to mom's police station as there was a problem with their paper (pendleton), drove to pick up mom's homestudy (indianapolis), went back to the statehouse to pick up the paperwork we'd left earlier in the day (indianapolis), went to INS to file their homestudy (indianapolis) & then took mom home (pendleton)... WHEW!... while at their house we assembled their original dossier & ran 4 copies of it as well... the girls that i had with me were kiara & karleigh & they'd been SO good, running into & out of meetings/offices/appointments all day long... they were tired & VERY hungry as we'd eaten lunch at 11:30am & it was now after 6pm so we were trying to hurry to get home & eat... i'd made veggie soup in the crockpot so i'd been telling them all day that when we got home that's what we were going to eat... i phoned brit when we left dad/mom's house (about 6:30ish) to let her know i was on the way & for her to go ahead & start getting things ready (ie: drinks in glasses, bowls filled, setting the table, etc.)... she was working hard on all that as i was driving home... i'd not seen ruby all day as she went to school at 6:30am & it was past 6:30pm so by the time we got home & ate, it was going to be bedtime... we pulled into the neighborhood at about 6:50pm & this' where things went all wrong - sooooooooooo wrong!... NOTE: i'm a VERY strong advocate of children being a carseat for as long as they can fit... making sure they're securly fastened in properly, everyone in the car wearing seatbelts, no children in the front, etc.... when pulling into our neighborhood, we're the 5th down on the right, so what we started doing about a week ago's letting the girls unstrap their seatbelts once we were IN our neighborhood as long as they stayed seated... the girls have thought that was neat & made them feel big to 'do it by themselves' & it saved us a minute or 2 once we parked as they were already ready to get out... well, we pulled in last night & i said, "go ahead & strap", which they did & were sitting just fine... i did what i always do & pulled up in front of the house, put it into reverse & started backing up... our drive's on an incline & as i got about half way up the drive kiara (being a 4y old) screamed, "MOMMY STOP!!!"... i didn't know she was just teasing & i slammed on the brakes very hard & it was at that time i heard the most horrible sound a mother could hear... it was karleigh (3y) being thrown out of her carseat toards the front of the van, a hard thud & then a bloodcurdling scream & i knew it was bad... this makes it sound as if i was driving 55mph & i wasn't, but being in reverse, slamming the brakes & making the van lunge forward a bit & then on an incline all that added together didn't make for a good situation at all... i threw it into park, jumped out to check out what happened & just as i was opening the slider door on the van brit walked out saying, "need me to help carry anything inside??"... at that moment i looked at my little girls face & there was blood everywhere!... it was gushing from her mouth at a rate of speed that scared me to death... she was loosing so much blood & i truly didn't know where it was coming from (teeth, throat, tounge, etc.), but i was concerned at the lose of blood that she would/could pass out... i scooped her up & ran (yes, this fat mama went running!) into the house & layed her on the bathroom sink... she was still screaming & i could see it was her teeth & her bottom lip... her lip had a HUGE cut on it & was split wide open... i scooped her up, ran to the car & rushed her to the hospital... i checked her in & after being there 6 hours they finally released her at 1am this morning... she'd split her bottom lower lip from the middle all the way to the left corner of the mouth (about an 1" - 1½" long)... the cut's on the inside - side touching the teeth & it's all swollen & brused... her cheeks bruised & swollen today & it hurts when she opens her mouth... they had to put stiches in her lip, but thanks to 'goofy juice' she was pretty much in lala land so even though it hurt & she cried when they did it, she doesn't remember it YEAH!... she's now got a loose tooth, but until the swelling goes down, we won't know how loose it really is... her gums are all black as they're so bruised & swollen & she living on yogurt, jello, pudding, ham salad, applesause & soup for the next few days... pray for her to heal quickly as i feel HORRIBLE (that's an understatement as i know i'm the one that caused the whole thing just from not thinking & using my head - now she's the one that's suffering)... she's doing fine & will be seeing a dentist in the next week or 2 as soon as the swelling goes down a bit... also pray for me as i was a bit of a wreck (& i'm usually very good in stressful situations & don't tend to 'loose it', but i did last night)... i'm better today, but totally wore out... thanks & when she gets up from her nap, i'll post a few pics to show (or sort of show) the damage to that ugly little boo-boo on her lip... (P.S. - lori/licia, where were you when i needed you to stitch up my baby!?!?!?!... praying for you all even more than ever because i honestly did think during all the comotion, this' nothing compared to what you deal with on a regular basis!... just letting you know that even in the midst of everything, i was thinking of you all & how you'd handle it... praying for you!)... i'm sorry karleigh & mommy loves you!!