the first hair cut (not what I expected)

Saturday started off pretty amazing.

First, the little two slept til 7:30.  That's nothing record setting for John Paul but definitely a gift from Luke.  [That little guy is starting to sleep!  6 days this week he napped for two hours!  Huge huge huge progress!  Maybe after 17 months he's leaving his reflux-crazy bad-habits sleep deprivation behind for good!!??!!]

So, still in bed with five kiddos piled around the phone rang at 7:32.... would we like a pan of hot-from-the-oven cinnamon rolls?  Why Yes Please.  {Many many perks to neighbors like these, thanks Ashlei!}

I even said out loud, "this is one good start to a Saturday".  We were expecting a worker (or three) to come look at a few last issues with our house.  Workmen are never easy to have around, but at least Matt was home to help navigate the waters.  And for the afternoon two little friends over to play.  And dinner together this evening for 18 (12 kids, 6 adults but an easy meal with plenty of help on prep work) and just lots of fun.

That was our day, and it was ticking right along when a head first fall turned extra bloody and Luke was possibly needing stitches.

But who could stitch him? when? where?  These issues are never easy here.  The local hospital system is (at times) medically ready and able to handle situations like these, but the crowds make them almost unbearable.  Foreign doctors were not available.

If it was not on his head I would have been more comfortable skipping the stitches but it's his head.  Then again, he's a little boy and it's not like growing up scar-free is a realistic goal.  [Matt is pretty proud of a playground injury that left a scar on his head three decades ago :)]

Back and forth we went, and finally took him to a smaller (crowd-free) clinic and the doc said, "let's not stitch".  And the doctor kindly cleaned it all up and cut off the first bit of those white-blond curls and cleaned some more and - again - felt it was ok to not stitch.

Which sounded like a great idea until an hour after getting home when Luke popped the wound open and walked out of the bedroom with blood dripping down his face.  It's so hot and so hard to get a bandage to stick on sweaty skin and he is a toddler and .....

Gratefully, it has not popped open again today.  Luke seems perfectly content and ignores it until we start poking around his forehead which really gets his fires burning hot :)  He's sleeping now, and we're leaving home for a few days so I'm praying it stays this easy.

And hoping that his future wife thinks a little scar along the hair line is attractive :) 

I'll gladly tell her that while my mother's instinct preferred a few stitches what God provided was different.  It's a gift, one of the many gifts, of living here.

It's also nice to have the first hair cut behind us!  Maybe the next one will be a bit less traumatic.