Yes, I have two boys.....

.....and I can't remember how many times we have been to the emergency room. Gabe has had a few mishaps plus some sicknesses that have required a fun run to the ER. Matt has already experienced his fair share including a trip in an ambulance and a week long stay in the hospital.

Monday was one of THOSE days. I was about 30 minutes into my workout routine when I here over the intercom- "Farrah Maldonado, please come to the child center." I knew something was wrong. They used to page me 15 minutes into my workout EVERY single time because Matt hated going. He would scream non-stop and they would give him 15 minutes and 15 minutes on the dot they would call me to come and get him.

Well, it has been months since they've had to page for this reason. So I hear it, and I KNOW. I jump off the elliptical, all sweaty and with my heart rate at 154- no time for a cool down, and walk quickly downstairs. Sure enough, the lady is holding Matt with an icepack on his head.

He bumps his head all the time. It is a completely normal occurrence in our home so I wasn't TOO concerned at first, well not until I saw it. This was the biggest bump he ever had and he was hysterical. Normally he cries a little and moves onto something else.

I get him calmed down; we hold the ice on it for 15 minutes. I check his pupils and they seem to be working fine. I decide he is okay but we go home and keep an eye on him.

Later that evening Gabe is in his room and I am putting Matt to bed. I hear Gabe say, "OH NO" in a voice that told me to go running to see what was wrong, not the "oh, no" which meant I hurt myself a little bit. I could tell there was something majorly wrong by his tone.

He was standing in his doorway with blood covering his entire leg and blood squirting out of a wound. I quickly asked what happened and accessed the situation. It was BAD. I used both my hands to stop the bleeding. We stood there for a moment while I tried to figure out what to do. Bart was gone running and I couldn't take my hands off his leg because, well, it was the deepest most horrific, tissue exposing, blood draining wound I have ever seen (and I have seen quite a few- I alone have had stitches 6 times).

I will spare you any more details because this has already been so long, but we ended up at the emergency room with 16 or 17 stitches. It was a nice clean cut although it was deep and gaping opening- it will heal fine but he will carry this battle wound for the rest of his life and I will continue to age quickly. These boys are doing a good job helping in with that!