"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men...

... Gang aft agley." - as Robert Burns would say.
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Oma and Opa were supposed to stay with us for two days, leave their car here and fly to Rome for a week, then come back and stay another few days. Well, a VERY sore tooth/root/infection in Oma's mouth nixed those plans. They stayed for a few days, Oma with a very swollen face and making about 4 trips to the dentist, and then drove home again for further treatment. Finn and Lily loved having them here and were very sad when they left. Hopefully the can go to Rome another time.

And to add a little more drama yet Lily decided to put a little plastic flower head (from her Playmobil) up her nose Tuesday night. She came to me and said, "Mama, I have something in my nose!" I said, "What? A booger?" "NO - a flower!" Oh no.

To make a long story short, it took 5 hours and a total of seven people to get the little flower out. It was pretty big for her little nose and a good inch (3 cm) in. The first two hours I spent at a pediatrician's office with her, and they tried 3 times, the last one with a sedative, before they gave up. Lily was a hysterical, screaming, fighting mess. The "sedatives" made her VERY tipsy (she couldn't walk anymore), but as soon as they put her on the table again she was fighting for her life and just miserable. The doctor was afraid he would seriously injure her and thought she would probably have to be put under and be admitted to the hospital for the removal.

So we went home again, picked up Neil who meanwhile had come home and went to the ER at the children's hospital. Luckily Oma and Opa could stay home with Finn, what a big help! At the hospital the doctor had more experience with getting objects out of kids' noses and ears, and she had tools that would do less damage in case Lily moved. So with one final effort, 4 of us holding her and only a minor nose bleed the flower came out.

We were so relieved. As we were leaving Lily said good-bye to the doctor and told her very seriously: "You know, you don't want to put flowers up your nose!". Let's hope she learned a lesson. I sure did - all the little flowers are bagged up and put away.