Zoey versus Pavement

Despite yet another injury to add to Zoey's ever-growing list, today was a great day.  Today was the Easter Egg Hunt for the Mom/Toddler's group that I take Zoey to.  It's a pretty small laid back group so it's easy to get know everyone, the moms are all really nice and the kids are awesome.  The kids are mostly all in the same age range, so it's a lot of fun to see them play together.  And speaking of the moms, some of the photos below were taken by them, so if they're reading this - thanks for the shots!

Anyway, for the second year in a row Zoey really wasn't interested in gathering Easter eggs.  She gathered a grand total of two eggs, doubling her count from last year.  She then gave one egg away and threw the other egg in the grass.  In her defense, we held the hunt at a park so she was way more into playing, climbing and going down the slide.  What can I say, she's a mover and a shaker.

As you can see, Finn was there too.  I love that he's such a content baby, he's totally happy being carried around in my Ergo carrier just hanging out and taking everything in.  It's interesting how both kids are different, Zoey has always been full steam ahead whereas Finn is much more laid-back.  

But the fun and games couldn't last forever.  Zoey and another little girl were running around on the concrete area and somehow Zoey faceplanted right into the pavement.  She's done this several times before, but this is one of the yuckier tumbles she's taken.  I immediately saw the blood and at first I thought I saw a tooth hanging out of her mouth.  Luckily it was just a giant flap of skin dangling off her lip.  It's funny, every time something like this happens, the ER nurse in me kicks in and I mentally do an expedient yet calm and methodical assessment:  "Ok she's awake and crying, good, all her teeth are still in, check, no major lacerations, bleeding is controlled, jaw lines up properly, moving all extremities with no issues, ok she's fine".  And then the mommy side takes over to console.

It didn't take long for the swelling to start, she's definitely got quite the fat lip:

But my little girl is a tough cookie.  It wasn't long before she was eating an apple and smiling through the tears.  Or at least attempting to smile.  Her flappy lip kept getting in the way.

And this one was taken a few hours later after it started to scab up.   She was soooo tired and ready for a nap (which happened about 10 minutes after this photo was taken):

It's not the first injury she's had and it definitely won't be the last.  She's a rough-and-tumble rambunctious fearless daredevil.  Right now her legs are covered in bruises, she has abrasions across her abdomen, a scratch on her forehead, today's fat lip, and the chipped tooth from months ago.  I'd say maybe we should invest in a helmet and a mouthguard for her, but I think all this ultimately just makes her more durable.  She's not the typical girl, she's by no means a delicate flower, but that's part of what makes her so beautiful to me.