A Happy Meeting, A Horrifying Moment, A Mad Dash to the Hospital

First meeting with Grandpa and Grandma ... This was about as close as Maeve was willing to let them get.


But somehow Grandma convinces Maeve to come to her (for about 30 seconds). Perhaps Maeve sensed it was Grandma's birthday ...?

A few hours after Grandma and Grandpa leave, before our first full day at Gatestone is over, I slip on a plastic package left on our staircase while carrying Maeve, with Kath right behind me, and Marcus and Lucilla looking on in horror from our living room as Maeve and I go airborne, fall down the lower flight of stairs ... Maeve lands hard, face-first on our hardwood floor.
By God's grace she's crying almost instantly---and as it turns out, she came through this mutual fall with only a bad bruise---but of course we immediately rush her to Emergency, terrified that our baby's suffered head trauma ... The ER doc reassured us she was okay, but must be monitored for the next 24 hours.
This pic was taken as Dad tries to get his bruised daughter to sleep later that night. She's bruised; he'll never quite recover from the first nightmare-scare of parenthood. (The ER doc, nurses and paramedics insisted there'd be more such scary rushes to the hospital, as it's part of the price of being a parent.)
But, as the picture shows, Baba is not the better for the terrifying fall with baby nuer.


Next morning, Maeve is all smiles. Don't worry Baba, I'm okay, really!

Now how about showing me some of the colourful plant-gifts I received?

Whoa, they're bigger than I thought ... and closer to me than Mama.

Flowers couldn't be carnivores, could they?

Actually, this vase looks tippable ...

Flowers are kinda tiring, Mama!